This Is Not a Fairytale
by ptrpan89
Summary: Isabella Swan is not quite human. She has a strange ability and dreams of an entirely different world with glowing figures for friends. She moves back to Forks and meets Alice Cullen and Rosalie Hale. Things go downhill from there. Obsessive vampires, abusive fathers, reincarnation, and soul mates. AU, OOCs, G!P
1. Chapter 1

**disclaimer: stephanie meyer owns twilight and its character, not me. i'm just borrowing them for some fun.**

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><p>Alice Cullen and Rosalie Hale were relaxing in their secret cave under a waterfall after an early morning hunt. They came here often to get some peace and quiet away from their vampire family's enhanced hearing, mind reading, and empathy. They usually came together, but sometimes individually, just to relax and meditate or to cuddle and speak privately.<p>

Rosalie was resting with her eyes closed against a wall with her arms wrapped protectively around a tiny Alice who was between her outstretched legs, her back to Rosalie's front. Alice had her eyes closed as well, going through her morning routine of using her future seeing gift to check the weather, the family's classes this year at Forks High School, any emergencies their adoptive father should know about coming through his hospital, and any potential threats to the coven of vampire's existence in this town.

"We're going to meet the shadow from my visions today, Rose." The small brunette said, opening her eyes for the first time in almost an hour.

"Oh? Are you still seeing the same things about this shadow person?" the taller blonde asked.

Rosalie was referring to the visions, as Alice called them, of a shadowy figure in both of their lives. She had been seeing this person for almost twenty years now in various situations. Sometimes in a relationship with Rosalie, sometimes in a relationship with Alice, sometimes in a relationship with the both of them, and other times they were all just very close friends. They decided to keep these visions a secret from the rest of the family until they knew exactly who this person was and what role they had to play. Each girl knew, however, that the fact Alice could even have a vision of herself in a relationship with anyone other than her supposed "mate" and husband, Jasper, meant that she and the Jasper must not be true soul mates. Though, they didn't talk about that much.

After receiving confirmation that Alice was seeing the same scenarios from this shadow person, Rosalie stood and suggested they head home to get ready for the first day of their senior year at Forks High School.

Isabella Swan, preferably Izzy, was guzzling coffee after her shower and trying to decide what to wear to school today. She only had about two hours sleep the night before after arriving at Charlie's house late in the evening, enduring a very tense and strained conversation about payment and sleeping arrangements, and then unpacking what little possessions she brought with her into the creepy little basement under the house she would be living in until graduation.

After being kicked out of the house promptly on her 18th birthday by that rat bastard, Phil, her mother's new husband, Izzy packed up what she could and spent a year between Phoenix, AZ and Forks, WA doing some sightseeing while strengthening her body and her strange powers. In the last year, she put on about 10lbs of muscle and learned quite a bit of self defense, though she probably wont even use it, because Charlie, who is also a rat bastard, was a nasty and abusive man, especially while drunk. Though she and her 'father' agreed that Izzy would pay him to stay in the basement and they would stay out of each other's way at all times, she has no doubt that the next time he gets shit faced he will come kicking her door down and hit her like he used to before she and her mother, Renee, moved after the divorce over nine years ago when she was ten years old.

Izzy dressed quickly, excited to surprise her best friend at school who thought she would be arriving next week. Black fold-over combat boots, loose and well-worn jeans tucked into them, a white deep v-neck shirt, black leather bomber jacket over it, and her favorite grey slouchy beanie over her slightly wavy, shoulder length chestnut hair. She made sure she had her phone, wallet, school papers, a notebook, and a pen before crawling out the basement window onto the driveway on the side of the house where her black 1967 Ford Mustang Boss 557 waited for her.

Ten minutes later, pulling into the small school's parking lot, engine rumbling, she smirked a bit at the looks the students were giving her and her car. She felt a little proud and a little anxious.

Angela Webber was standing in the Forks High parking lot next to her boyfriend of almost a year, Emmett Cullen, his family, and their vehicles. She and Emmett were standing between Rosalie and Edward because it was easy to see how agitated Rose was becoming at Edward's pitiful attempts to get her to notice him. Alice and Jasper were arguing, again, about she and Rosalie being out hunting together for hours and then coming back home with their scents mixed. Angela really loved this family but she could not wait for her best friend to get here next week.

Angela, a very thin girl of average height with creamy cocoa skin, deep brunette hair, and copper eyes behind black rimmed glasses, turned her head when she heard a very familiar sound enter the parking lot. She saw the sexy black American muscle car she hasn't seen for almost two years and squealed.

"Emmett, love, I'll be right back. Please don't go all scary, possessive vampire while I'm gone." Before Emmett or any of his family could reply, Angela was streaking across the parking lot.

As soon as Izzy closed her driver side door she had a very excited Angela Webber in her arms, legs wrapped around her waist.

"I missed you too, Angel." Izzy mumbled into the tan girl's neck, holding her best friend tightly.

All of the sudden, Angela was kissing Izzy Swan full on the mouth, tongue and all. Izzy was surprised, sure, but they were lifelong best friends and ex-lovers so she was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

When they pulled back to breath, foreheads together, panting in each other's faces, Angela said that would be their last kiss and Izzy agreed. She knew her Angel had found her soul mate and she figured that was just a kiss goodbye to their sporadic and unpredictable relationship.

Then, out of nowhere, Angela slapped her.

"Ouch. Still a tad schizo, I see?" Izzy, the taller brunette asked, rubbing her cheek.

"You bitch! You told me you would be here next week. When did you get in? Why didn't you call me?"

Izzy explained that she got in late last night, early this morning really, and that she wanted to surprise her friend while Angela grabbed her hand and lead her over to the Cullens.

"So, your boyfriend and his family are vampires, then?" Izzy asked, looking intently at the pale and golden-eyed family standing next to a huge Jeep, a silver Volvo, and a red Chevy Camaro z28.

"Um, yes, they are. How did you know that?"

Izzy just hummed and said something vague about meeting a red-eyed vampire on the way to Forks. Angela would definitely be asking her about that later but now they were in front of the Cullens and it was time for introductions.

"Cullens, this is my absolute best friend in the world, my brain twin, the most important person in my life next to Emmett, and as I'm sure you guessed, my former lover, Isabella Swan aka Izzy." Angela told them all with a grand gesture to the whole of her best friend, grinning all the while. She turned to Izzy and said "Iz, these are the Cullens. Edward, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie," she pointed to each of them while moving into Emmett's massive arms, "and this is my Emmett."

Izzy barely glanced at the first two, she could already tell they were tools, and by the lack of affection in Angela's voice when she said their names, she guessed her friend felt the same. The first, Edward, was scrawny with a crooked face and stupid looking hair. The second, Jasper, had scars over every inch of exposed skin and was clutching Alice desperately, like she might just skip off, with a constipated expression on his face.

She was only really interested in the last three. Alice and Rosalie seemed familiar, though Izzy was positive she would remember meeting them before if she had. Alice was a tiny thing, maybe 5'3 without those heels on, and was a tad gothic it seemed. She was wearing a red and black corset with gold trimming, black leggings with a few rips in them, and 3 or 4 inch black heels with a zipper up the back and buckles on the sides. Her black hair was a little crazy, spiked in all different directions; she had the golden eyes of a vegetarian vampire, and the cutest nose Izzy had ever seen. Rosalie, on the other hand, was the opposite of Alice in every way other than their eye color. She was taller than Alice, eye-level with Izzy with those red stiletto-heeled ankle boots on. Black skinny trousers under a white oxford shirt with a red, white, and grey argyle cardigan. Izzy could see glimpses of black lace under Rosalie's shining golden hair that fell past her shoulders and thought this girl looked like a sexy nerd.

Both beautiful girls were looking at Izzy as if they recognized her and she wasn't sure how to handle that so she turned her attention to the man now holding Angela with a huge grin. Actually, everything about him was huge. He must be at least 6'5 with bulging muscles but he has a bit of a baby face with dimples and a cute smile. She chose to focus on him.

"So," Izzy said, turning her body towards Emmett, "I have you to thank for the beautiful smile on Angela's face every time I've talked to her this last year, then?" she asked.

Angela blushed and hid her face in the mountain man's chest while he full out laughed. "Yeah, that's me. It's nice to finally meet the famous Izzy Swan we've all heard so much about." He said, extending his hand for a shake.

They shook hands, well technically Emmett shook Izzy's hand which was dwarfed in his grip, then Izzy told the rest of the family it was a pleasure to meet them with a small bow. After Angela smacked her and made fun of her for being a gentleman, the two non-vampires headed for the office for their schedules, holding hands, whispering to each other, and giggling like they were little girls again.

All of the Cullens, minus Emmett, were standing shocked, looking after the girls as if their retreating figures held the answers. Alice did not know that the shadow in her visions would be so beautiful, let alone Angela's long lost best friend they had all heard about. She was still trying to figure out what that tug in her chest was when Izzy looked her in the eye. Rosalie was dumbfounded. Isabella Swan was quite possibly the sexiest person she had seen in her 90+ years. She was tall, about 5'10, long and sinewy but still had good muscle definition. Izzy carried herself with a guarded confidence, like she knew what she looked like but would rather not draw attention to herself. The girl had luminescent grey eyes; not quite silver but certainly not dull. Rosalie would describe Izzy as tall, dark, and androgynous despite her pale complexion. And why did she seem familiar? Alice never told Rosalie what the shadow in her visions looked like and refused to draw a portrait, so why did the blonde feel like she knew her? Why did she have to stop herself from taking a step forward when they made eye contact? And what the hell was that sharp pull in her chest?

Edward was pretty sure he'd just found his second mate. Isabella was one of the most beautiful people he had ever met. A bit too boyish for his tastes, but he could change that in her easily. He couldn't read her mind, like he couldn't read Angela's; but where he didn't trust Angela for it, he was sure he couldn't read Isabella because they were meant to get to know each other through more conventional means. He also could not smell her blood; in fact she had no scent at all. Surely it was made that way so that he would not accidentally her. He wondered how Isabella would feel having him and Rosalie as mates. He's known Rosalie was his mate for decades, after all, he is the first son and Carlisle created Rosalie specifically for him. The only problem was that Rosalie could be a difficult, frigid bitch; especially to him.

Jasper was having a tough time controlling himself. As an empath, he could feel and control the emotions around him. At the moment, he was feeling massive amounts of lust and curiosity with a bit of recognition and excitement mixed in. when Angela introduced Isabella Swan, the girl barely glanced at he and Edward but practically stared at his Alice and Rosalie. When the newcomer and Alice locked eyes, he felt overwhelming happiness and recognition, then some confusion and fear coming from his mate. The same went for Rosalie, except she felt no fear. Why would Alice be afraid? And why the hell is she so aroused right now? Luckily for Alice, Emmett spoke before Jasper could ask any questions.

"Well! Looks like today's going to be more interesting than we thought, huh, guys?" Emmett received varying answers; glares from the boys and soft smiles from the girls, but silence all around. He didn't care. His mate was happy that her best friend was back; therefore, he was happy too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and it's characters, not me. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.**

**A/N: **I just want to say thank you to everyone who followed, favorite, and reviewed the first chapter. I honestly wasn't expecting all of that; it was great.

**African gal Olwe2:** I agree. It sucks when you find a great story and then it never gets finished. The good thing is that I've got the entire plot outline and a majority of the scenes for this story already saved. Now, of course, since I said that, a meteor will land on my house or some shit.

**brutallyhonestidc:** I can see why Angela and Izzy's kiss might be a little weird and out of left field. They are in high school but they are both seniors and, as we will learn in later chapters, they have a complex and deep bond and both Izzy and Angela are almost twenty years old because I just feel a little icky thinking about 16-17 year old girls dating and having sex with hundred year old vamps. The reasons for them being that old will be explained in the story later. Also, you were right, I should have explained how Izzy could afford that car and to pay her father rent in the last chapter. I've touched on it a little in this chapter but we will get the full story about the mysterious uncle and why he gave her so much money later in the story when Izzy meets him.

**Also, I'm wonder if these chapters are excessively long? Would you guys prefer shorter chapter lengths and more chapters in total, or less chapters and longer chapter lengths?**

As it turned out, the scrawny vampire was in Izzy's first period botany class and he was sitting next to the only available seat. Angela had just finished telling her about all of the Cullen's gifts and that Edward couldn't read her mind and Jasper couldn't feel her emotions. Izzy was so hoping that would be the case for her as well. Vampire gifts like that sounded a bit too intrusive for her tastes.

"Isabella, I believe you and I are meant to be together." Well, at least he let her skim over the syllabus first.

Izzy snorted, "Well, that's charming, Edward. Tell me, what makes you think that?"

Edward showed his teeth in a lopsided grin that only served to highlight how crooked his entire face was. "My gift is the ability to read minds and I cannot read yours. I also cannot smell your blood. We were meant to fall in love naturally and my not being able to smell you means that I will not hurt you accidentally."

Izzy had to look away; his face was getting creepier and creepier. She thought the vampire change was supposed to fix physical imperfections? "I suppose I can see why you would think that but from what I hear, you cannot read or smell Angela, either. Does that mean she is your mate as well?"

"Well, no." he answered hesitantly, "I am not attracted to her. Though, I should tell you now that Rosalie is my mate as well you. I'm sure you two will get along fine."

Izzy wasn't sure if she was missing something or if this guy was downright delusional. When she first met the Cullens in the parking lot, they were all lined up horizontally and the rest of the family and Angela separated the two vampires. From what she understood, mates preferred to be close to each other, physically touching if possible.

"Listen, Edward, I'm sure you are a decent guy underneath that disturbing smile and all that gel but I can assure you that we are not meant to be together. Now, please stop talking to me. I actually enjoy botany." Izzy replied, hoping to end the bizarre conversation and learn stuff about plants already.

Edward couldn't believe that he was sent another stubborn and insolent mate. What did it take for a guy to meet a nice, subservient woman that would just listen to him for once? He reached for her hand under the table; maybe she will feel those tingles that soul mates feel if he could just touch her?

"Isabella, surely…" He did not get to finish his statement, however. As soon as his icy cold hand touched the back of Izzy's, the girl squeezed, popping a few of his knuckles, and slammed his hand onto the lab table in front of them, cracking it a little.

Izzy took a deep breath. She shouldn't have done that, but gross, why would he think it was okay to touch her? "Do not touch me, you arrogant prick." She hissed.

Obviously, the clatter drew the instructor's attention. Mr. Banner asked Izzy what in the world the problem was.

In times of need, such as this, Izzy had perfected a charming smile, dimples and all that could get her out of almost any trouble she found herself in. "Everything is fine, sir. Mr. Cullen just can't seem to keep his hands to himself. Is there any way I could switch seats with someone?"

Mr. Banner blinked a couple of times then had Jessica Stanley, from the back of the class next to Mike Newton, to switch seats with Izzy. As they passed each other, Jessica flashed a blinding smile at Izzy because she had been trying to get Edward's attention for a year now. Edward scowled at both girls, and the Newton kid looked equal parts impressed and terrified.

Angela Webber met her best friend in the hall halfway between their previous classes. She led them to their first of two shared classes, World History. On their way to the back row, they passed Japer Cullen in the seat closest to the exit. His posture was rigid, his eyes darkened, and it didn't look like he was breathing. Angela wondered why the hell a vampire would bother with high school if they had such a hard time with their control.

After introductions, paperwork, and the syllabus, they were handed a worksheet to do for the rest of the period. She decided this would be a good time to get the details on how Izzy knew about vampires. She went old school, passing her friend a note, like when they were little.

_A: care to share about the red-eyed vamp you met?_

_I: only if you promise not to freak out and spew nonsense about being a danger magnet and putting myself in bad situations._

_A: fine, I'll do my best._

_I: as I said, I was on my way to Forks. I was spending the night somewhere in northern Cali but I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk in the woods to practice transporting myself through the shadows. I literally bumped into a red haired, red-eyed vampire. After a discussion about her not being able to smell me and me explaining what I was doing, we spent a couple days just talking. Her name was Victoria, her mate had been killed, and she had been unsuccessful at her suicide attempts thus far. She told me a lot about vampires, their gifts, diets, and mates._

_A: okay, not weird at all. You just… hung out with a human eating vampire. Cool. Where is she now?_

_I: she's dead. I killed her._

_A: …excuse me?_

_I: she explained that if a vampire loses their mate they lose the will to live. She wasn't able to kill herself so she asked if I would do it. I moved some shadows around in her mind so that she couldn't see, feel, hear, or smell, and left her only with her good memories. Then I yanked off her head and burned her. Scattered the ashes over a cliff into the Pacific because she said her mate was a sailor as a human and always wanted to be buried at sea._

Angela didn't know what to say to that. Luckily, she didn't have to, the class ended and she would use trigonometry to think about what Izzy had just told her.

Rosalie Hale was getting a little restless. It was a rare and uncomfortable feeling for her. She had been thinking about the Swan girl and the odd feelings she invoked since they met that morning. She wanted to get to know Izzy; especially after the conversation she heard between her and Edward that morning from her math class right next to the botany lab. But what do you say in a situation like this?

When Isabella walked into the French classroom, she headed straight for Rosalie, unaware that the blonde had been glaring at anyone else who tried to sit there.

"Hello, Rosalie. May I sit here?" Izzy asked.

At Rosalie's nod, the brunette sat herself in the desk next to her. It was a graceful decent into the seat, but with the small amount of swooshing and movement of Izzy's clothing, Rosalie was sent a huge whiff of the girls scent and her lids closed as her eyes rolled back. The Swan girl smelled like the forest at night, crisp, clean air, trees, and damp moss. Very different from Angela's scent, though for some reason, only Rosalie, Alice, and Emmett could smell her. Rosalie wondered if it would be the same in Izzy's case.

"You smell really good." Shit, did she say that out loud?

"Oh?" Izzy was amused. It didn't look like Rosalie meant to say that. "Prickward says I have no scent. What do I smell like to you?"

Rosalie smiled, which was not lopsided or creepy in the least. Perhaps she and the Swan girl could bond over their mutual disgust of Edward. "You smell like the forest at night; damp moss, evergreens, crisp air, and ferns."

"Hmm," Izzy thought about it. "I can live with that. You, cheri (darling), smell like fresh snow, vanilla, pine trees, and a touch of cinnamon."

"Are you saying I smell like Christmas, Miss Swan?" Rosalie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rosalie and Izzy laughed together and, to the students surrounding them, it sounded like bells being rung with something a little deeper, and a little dark drumming in the background. People stopped and listened, mostly because it sounded beautiful but also because they were astonished Rosalie freaking Hale was laughing.

The instructor asked each student to stand and introduce themselves in French to see where they were at with the language. Predictably, most of the class was lousy at it, Rosalie was fluent but downplayed that well, and surprisingly Izzy was fluent as well.

"Bonjour. Mon nom est Isabella Swan. Je ai appris le français parce que ça sonne sexy. Ce est une belle robe Miss Conrad." (Hello. My name is Isabella Swan. I learned French because it sounds sexy. That is a beautiful dress Miss Conrad.) Izzy said in her slightly husky French accent.

The teacher, Miss Conrad, blushed and Izzy sat down. For the rest of the period, Rosalie and Izzy spoke quietly while completing their worksheets. They bonded over their love of cars and their slightly sarcastic outlook on the world. The brunette gave Rosalie an abbreviated version of her encounter with the red-eyed vampire and, when asked about it, explained that she could afford her car and designer clothes because of a substantial trust set up in her name by some distant uncle her parents said they had never met. Rosalie explained why she hated Edward so much. She told Izzy that she would not have chosen to become a vampire if given the choice but Edward saw her on the brink of death and begged their adopted father, Carlisle, to change her because he wanted her to be his mate. Even though Rosalie had been rejecting him for decades, he still would not let up about this soul mate nonsense.

The blonde also elaborated on her lie-detecting gift. As soon as anyone she is speaking to, or even anyone she is listening to, tells a lie, her brain immediately registers it as not true. She told Izzy that it took her almost a year to create a switch in her brain so she could read fiction or watch a movie without going bat-shit crazy. The only loophole she found so far was that if a person believes their lie fervently enough, it registers as truth to her. As is the case with Edward, after about thirty years of him saying Rosalie was his mate, the words actually began to register as truth in her brain.

Fortunately, before Rosalie could start asking Izzy about her gifts, the bell rang and they met up with Angela on the way to the cafeteria. Angela and Izzy headed for the food line while the blonde vampire met her family at the Cullen table in the far back corner.

"So, does the Cullen diet bother you at all?" Izzy asked her friend while scooping some not quite fresh looking lettuce into a bowl. She wasn't sure if Angela was okay with the Cullens killing animals for food regularly given that her gift allowed her to speak and be spoken to by any animal or plant. Because of that ability, the brown-eyed girl was sensitive to matters pertaining to animal rights, loss of habitat, pollution, and deforestation.

"I'm alright with it. I mean, they need blood to survive," Angela whispered. "Emmett showed me how they kill in the quickest and least painful way possible and I've shown them how to be considerate of the body, leave it in a place where other animals can use the remains, or how to bury it respectfully. I prefer they do it that way than kill people."

Izzy nodded. "That's good, then, and I agree with you."

"Though," Angela continued, once their bowls were full of lettuce and veggies, "not two weeks after that demonstration, a few cedars and oaks told me that Edward enjoys being cruel and playing with his food, while Jasper, who at least uses his empathy to calm the animal, couldn't be bothered to at least move the remains near a den or cave."

While Izzy was trying to think of what to say to that, they arrived at the table and she chose not to comment, though she was sure the two Cullens in question head the whole conversation. Izzy sat between Angela, who was next to Emmett, and Rosalie. She only got two bites into her wilting salad before the question she didn't want to answer came up.

"Hey Iz! Do you have a super cool and adorable power like my girl Ange?" Emmett asked her, grinning like he always was. At least he kept his voice down, which was unusual for him.

"Um…" She tried to think of a way to get out of this. "It's actually nothing like Angela's."

Emmett wasn't having any of that, apparently. "Then what is it? What can you do?"

Izzy looked to her best friend for help, only getting a shrug and sympathetic smile in return. She wasn't getting out of this, especially not when asked directly in front of half a dozen other people.

"I can manipulate shadows. I started off just playing around with my own shadow, making it dance and silly things like that, when I was younger. Eventually I learned how to use a person's shadow to stop them in their tracks, make them unable to move, because it's very painful to lose your shadow. I can send my own shadow out to do things for me; scout an area, spy on someone, sneak in somewhere and unlock a door. Just recently I figured out how to transport myself through shadows up to five miles, though I've only ever tried in the forest." She told them. She wasn't going to tell them about handling shadows inside of a person's body yet. Only Angela knew about that and she knew it wasn't her secret to tell.

Izzy got a shout of "That's so cool!" from the mountain man and expressions somewhere between intrigue and awe from the rest of the table. Jasper completely disregarded the conversation and blurted, "Why can I not feel your emotions? I can feel everyone else at this table other than you."

Alice, sitting directly across from Izzy and trying to deal with Jasper hanging off her like a baby koala, smacked his arm pretty hard. "Jasper that's rude. You don't have to answer, Izzy."

"No, it's alright." Izzy answered, smiling at the little goth with crazy hair, "He should know so he can stop trying. It's because I don't want you to, Jasper. Like I don't want Edward to read my mind. I'm just blocking your abilities because they creep my out."

Jasper was looking constipated again. "How are we supposed to trust you if you can block our gifts? How do we know you aren't here to sabotage our family?"

Edward was nodding his head, agreeing, also looking perturbed. Rosalie, Alice, and Angela all looked embarrassed and apologetic. Emmett, of course, always enjoyed a good debate and just sat back and watched the show.

"Listen, dude, I understand you were a soldier back in the day and that line of thinking must be natural for you," Izzy told him, cleaning up the area around her in preparation to leave. "But if you can't learn to trust someone without your empathy, and this goes for you and your mind-reading too, Prickward, then maybe you are way too reliant on your gifts."

Since Izzy left lunch early, she had a good hour and a half to kill because of her free period before woodshop. She wandered into the library, looking for a quiet place to nap, and just about poured herself into an overstuffed leather armchair.

She dreamed, of course, because every time for as long as she can remember she dreamed when she slept. It was always the same types of dreams. She would be transported to some hazy world where she could only recognize herself, though she looked different. There were woods as far as her eye could see, an open ocean often with varying sizes of pirate ships littering the surface, a lagoon with a grotto in the back that was home to strange women who would try to catch her ankles when she hopped between rocks to cross the water, and a massive house built into three trees that she called home.

Izzy did not get far into her dream before the alarm on her phone woke her with ten minutes to get to woodshop, which she shared with Angela and Emmett. Woodshop was not her favorite class but since Emmett was there, it was filled with goofing around, inappropriate jokes, and sly sexual innuendos about Izzy and Angela's past relationship. By the end of the period, both brunette's sides were sore from laughing and they had plenty of pictures of their birdhouse that resembled the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Finally, fucking finally, Izzy walked into her art class. The last class of her day and also the only one she was truly interested in. And look! Yet another Cullen! She didn't mind this one, though; in fact, she welcomed her. Izzy had not had much of a chance to talk to Alice that morning or at lunch but she seemed like a nice person and, just like with Rosalie, she felt drawn to Alice, like she recognized her from somewhere.

They sat together at a double desk, naturally, because Alice had seen that they shared this class and wanted to get to know the newcomer. After the teacher handed out their sketchbooks for the year and told them to draw anything they'd like for the remainder of the period so he could get a read on their personal styles and skill level, Alice started the conversation she had been waiting for all day.

"Isabella?" She asked, waiting for the taller girl to look up from her furious slashing across the paper.

"Yes, fée?" She asked, distracted.

Alice tilted her head to one side, which Izzy found so adorable she turned to face the girl and gave her undivided attention. "What does that mean?" Alice asked her.

"It means fairy or pixie in French. My apologies, it doesn't offend you does it?"

Alice would have blushed if she could, instead she settled for grinning like a loon. "No, no. I rather like it, thank you. Anyways, I wanted to say I adore your outfit. Please shop with me?"

"Sure, that sounds fun." Izzy didn't really have a choice of saying no, not to that face, not to that pout, and certainly not to those big golden eyes. Besides, she needed a few things to liven up that eerie basement she was relegated to. They exchanged phone numbers and made plans for the weekend.

They continued drawing and talking for a while. Izzy really liked Alice, they could be great friends, she seemed like a naturally cheery girl but it was as if she was a light bulb with the capacity to be blinding but her switch wasn't all the way to the top.

"Can I ask what you're drawing? I really like it so far." Alice enquired.

Izzy's picture was almost finished; she just had to fill in some shading yet. There was a huge full moon in the background taking up almost the entire page and a tree with a thick branch hanging in the middle of the paper, illuminated by the moon. Sitting on the branch were three indistinct people, the one in the middle with its arms around the other two's shoulders.

"Well, for as long as I can remember, I've had these strange dreams every time I sleep. I am in a different world, maybe a different time, in an immense forest. These are my… friends," she said, pointing to the smallest girl on the left who was outlined in emerald, the tallest girl in the middle Izzy indicated as herself, and the girl on the right outlined in lavender.

"It's beautiful, Iz."

After class, Alice and Izzy walked to the parking lot together. They were the last of their group to arrive because the art classrooms were in the back of the campus. Walking down the steps out front, Alice could already feel Jasper pushing disinterest at her, hoping she would stop talking to the new girl. She would really have to talk to him about that; he may or may not be her mate but he certainly was not her keeper.

When Izzy watched her companion's eyes dull and her shoulders slouch, she looked around and saw Jasper with a self-satisfied smirk on his scarred face. She was about to go talk to him about it until she saw that piece of shit scrawny vampire leaning on her car. On her baby!

"Get off my car." She growled at him, after stopping about a foot away.

"Isabella, go on a date with me." Edward flashed her that messed up looking crooked grin again.

"I wasn't aware it was possible for a vampire to be hard of hearing, but here you are. I've already told you that I am not interested in you at all. Now get the fuck off my car and leave." The brunette said, quite calmly, body language not giving anything away.

Edward did eventually step away from the classic Mustang but then he reached out and touched the girl's arm. "Isabe-" He did not get to finish what he wanted to say because, faster than he thought she was capable of, Izzy had his arm twisted behind his back and the boy's front pressed against the hood of her vehicle.

Izzy leaned into his ear so that only he and the other vampires could her, "The next time you touch me without permission, I will feed you your fingers. Do you understand?"

Edward was nodding his understanding the whole way over to his family. When they got there, Edward's arm still behind his back, Izzy looked to Emmett for assistance that was readily granted in the form of tree trunk arms wrapped around scrawny Edward.

"Isabella, come on, I know you have feelings for me." Edward yelled, causing a scene.

Izzy was on her way back to her car already, hand sanitizer in her hand, but she turned around, "You are right Edward, I do have feelings for you," she waited for the smug smile to appear on his face before continuing, "Two of them, actually, disgust and annoyance. Ask your empath. Leave me the fuck alone."

Emmett shoved his brother into his little Volvo and slammed the door then left the school his Jeep with Angela, Jasper, and Alice. That left Rosalie behind. She jogged up to the brunette, who was just opening her driver's door.

"Hey, Iz, are you all right?" she asked.

Izzy just wanted to go home and go to sleep. She surprised herself by hugging Rosalie. It was unexpectedly comfortable, given that the blonde was cold as ice and hard as marble.

"I'm okay. I just need some sleep, I think."

And sleep she did. After getting back to her basement home, saving Alice and Rosalie's numbers into her phone, and showering, Izzy Swan passed out early. She dreamed again, like always, but this time the dream was much clearer, more detailed, and she almost saw the faces of the girls glowing emerald and lavender.


	3. Chapter 3

**disclaimer: stephenie meyer owns twilight and its characters, not me. i'm just borrowing them for some fun.**

**So sorry for the amount of time it took to post this! I moved into my first house just after the last update and then the interwebs went all wonky. Then I was surprised with a puppy as an early Christmas present and, well, life stuff.**

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><p>The next couple of weeks passed smoothly, for Izzy at least. She was getting to know Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett fairly well and spending a lot of time with her best friend. She and Angela would take long walks through the forest, either in comfortable silence or just talking quietly. They would oftentimes bring back a sick or injured animal to Angela's garage and the bronze-skinned girl would translate the animal's story and illnessinjury for her friend. Emmett was one of the easiest people to get along with that the brunette newcomer had ever met and she could clearly see what drew her best friend to the giant man.

Izzy and Alice had been texting each other regularly since their shopping trip the previous Saturday and in Art they would play a game similar to twenty questions to get to know one another. More often than not, the parking lot would be empty by the time they made it there after class because they walked as slow as possible to prolong their time together. Alice had not outright said anything about it, but Isabella could infer from vague comments and definitely see with her own eyes that the tiny goth and her husband were on thin ice recently.

The tall brunette and Rosalie had ramped up their flirting in French to an entirely new level. They had met for coffee twice in the last week, though Izzy was the only one to consume anything, and the chemistry was almost suffocating but it was glaringly obvious, to the blonde at least, that the Swan girl was holding things back. Rosalie Lillian Hale practically invented keeping oneself at a distance though, so she allowed the brunette her space when she needed it and decided to take things at Izzy's pace.

So everything was going well for Isabella Swan until she ran out of coffee in her downstairs basement hellhole. She tried to sneak upstairs while she thought Charlie would be asleep just to get a few scoops for the upcoming morning. What she was not expecting was Charlie to be standing between a woman's legs while she sat on the kitchen counter next to three empty beer cans and a half full wineglass. They probably would not have noticed her if that damned last step up the stairs wasn't so squeaky. Regardless, she took her 'punishment' of two backhanded fists to the left side of her face stoically and retreated to the basement with the entire can of coffee once Charlie and his lady left the room.

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><p>Rosalie was sitting on a thick log halfway up a tree behind the Cullen house reading a couple of hours before school on Friday morning. Her phone buzzed with a message alert and she smiled as she swiped the screen and saw the sender's name.<p>

_Swan: Good morning, beautiful. Would you happen to know the name of a doctor around here?_

_Rose: Other than my father? There is a Dr. Beale at Forks Hospital, she's wonderful. Are you alright?_

_Swan: Thank you. Meet me at school early and I'll show you?_

That is how Rosalie ended up sitting inside her Camaro, an hour before classes were to start, waiting for her friend and her mystery injury to show up. She gracefully stepped out of her vehicle when she heard the low rumble of Izzy's Mustang, leaning against the hood of her car in her black high heeled ankle boots and adjusted the dark red off the shoulder sweater she was wearing.

Once inside Isabella's car, the blonde vampire turned fully in her seat to get good look at her friend. "Sweet shades, Iz. Now let me see your face." She said.

"It's a pleasure to see you too, ma cherie. Tell me, does this note look passable to you?" the brunette replied, not yet removing her dark tinted aviators.

Rosalie scanned over the, alarmingly well plagiarized, doctor's note. "Very well done. Did you actually have your eyes dilated this morning or is there something you would like to share with me?"

After a short inhale, Izzy removed the sunglasses over her eyes with a grand flourish and said, "Viola!"

As a vampire, Rosalie no longer needed to breathe; still, she gasped at what she saw. The Swan girl's left eye was a mess. A deep split at the end of her eyebrow was open and red, already bruising, and from her brief stint as a nurse in the 60's, Rosalie knew it must have bled for hours. As a vampire, Rosalie also did not feel pain without a considerable amount of effort and force, yet she felt a sharp stab in the area where her heart used to beat at the nonchalant way that her friend was going about this. Obviously Izzy had been hit, at least once and in the face, but the girl was acting as if this sort of thing happened regularly. Rosalie realized, from the brunette's behavior, that it most likely did.

The blonde slowly reached out with her right hand, very gently laid her cold fingers on the side of her friend's face, and stroked the gash above Izzy's eyebrow with her thumb knowing the coldness of her skin would soothe the pain. "Sweetheart, who did this?"

The brunette had closed her eyes when Rose touched her face. They had spoken about this, that Izzy was not fond of touching, but that it was okay for the vampire to try as long as she went slowly until she was more comfortable. The human was not uncomfortable though, in fact Rosalie's hand on her bruised face felt amazing. "Charlie." She whispered into the blonde's palm.

"Your father?" Rosalie hissed.

"Charlie." The Swan girl said. Just Charlie, and Rosalie acquiesced.

"I got my eyes dilated this morning, okay?"

"Okay."

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><p>The fake doctor's note worked… on everyone but Angela and Alice. Angela was not surprised, she knew and she had always known how Chief Swan reacted when drunk, angry, or embarrassed. Alice was livid that she did not 'see' it coming so she could have warned her friend. She apologized profusely, though it had nothing to do with her, until Izzy had to ask her to stop.<p>

"Why do you put up with it?" Alice asked her after she had finally given her the truth of what happened to her face.

"He is a miserable man. He will not change. Were I to retaliate I could accidentally do more damage than he has ever done to me. I take it because I need a place to stay until I graduate and he needs something to let his anger out on." The taller girl replied.

On the way out to the parking lot once the final bell rang, Alice asked Isabella if they were still on for shopping with Rosalie the next day, which would be Saturday. Izzy readily agreed, hoping she would have a reason to buy new clothes after that night.

"What time? Don't make it too early, I wont be home until very late tonight." She told Alice.

"Noon or one? Why? What are you doing tonight?"

"Applying for a job." Was all the human could get out of her mouth before Jasper engulfed tiny Alice in a smothering hug and kiss, affection that had not been shown in a weeks unless the newcomer was in the vicinity.

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><p>The human met Rosalie and Alice outside of a boutique in Port Angeles the next day just before one in the afternoon. Shops like this were not her forte, so she decided she would just watch the girls try on clothes at this place. Her plan was working well until the tiny goth caught her loitering in the back of the store, near the sunglasses, looking bored out of her mind.<p>

Alice practically flew into the other girl's side, lodging herself under Izzy's arm, with her own arm around the taller girl's middle. "Iz, come try on a skirt for me. I bet you have amazing legs." She purred.

Izzy Swan liked Alice Cullen all of the time because how could one not? This Alice, though; the confident, outspoken, flirty, and fun Alice that Izzy rarely, if ever, saw at school… Izzy absolutely adored this Alice. The problem was, Izzy found this Alice impossibly sexy and, unfortunately, this Alice was married just like school Alice was.

"Flirt and touch all you want, fèe, but there is no way I'm trying on a skirt." The brunette said while placing a light kiss to Alice's forehead.

"Come now, Swan, surely your legs are just as sexy as the rest of you?" Rosalie winked as she finally joined them.

Izzy looked indignant. "Of course they are! I guess I have something I need to show you two. Follow me, please." She gestured to an empty fitting room.

Once inside, the human took a hand from each of the girls and firmly placed them over her crotch. Her crotch that had a bulge the vampires were previously unaware of.

"Is that...?" Alice trailed off; eyes never leaving Izzy's gunmetal grey ones.

The brunette nodded. Shifting her eyes over to Rosalie's, whose formerly recently fed bright golden irises were rapidly fading into inky black. Apparently, whatever the blonde vampire had to say, she was trying to say with her eyes because she was staring so intently into Isabella's that it was almost unnerving. Izzy was no longer holding her friend's hands to her lap but they had yet to remove their hands on their own. She noticed both vampires' nostrils flaring as they sucked in lungful's of air they didn't need and both of their eyes had gone dark with small slivers of gold in the middle.

The situation really should have been incredibly awkward for the human girl but all she could think about at the moment was how big of a mistake she had just made. The past week she had been doing her damnedest to keep her feelings for these two incredibly beautiful women to herself and it became rather difficult to ignore those feelings with both their hands on her dick. Rosalie was inching closer to her and, while Izzy usually had superior control over her body, there was absolutely nothing she could do when the bulge in her pants grew harder and more pronounced. Alice growled low in her throat, which was surprising enough, but then both vampires latched onto her neck. Thankfully not with their sharp fangs but with their lips and tongues, which, honestly, might be just as deadly.

Alice was the first to pull back and out of her trance for what should be obvious reasons. "Ooooh fuck." She breathed, not in a good way, but in a regretful and embarrassed way.

Izzy coughed into her fist. "So, uh, yeah. No skirts for me. Lets hit a men's shop next, yeah?"

The three of them tumbled out of the fitting room in a heap of awkward limbs and hard bodies all around. Izzy caught the wink Rosalie sent her way on their way out of the store but wasn't quite sure what to make of it and let it go.

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><p>Later that night, Izzy was working at a job she had not told anyone about. She would be wearing clothing she would not normally wear and speaking to people she would not normally converse with. She would be expressing a part of herself that she had kept dormant for too long. She would not make it home until after 4am but she would not be able to remember having more fun at any point in her life and would be excited for the next weekend.<p>

Alice would be arguing with Jasper, yet again, about the amount of time she spends with Rosalie and Isabella. Alice would realize that Jasper was no longer the man she fell in love with and certainly not the husband she once wanted to spend the rest of her immortal life with. Some of the comments he would make to the pixie would shine light on his true beliefs of how a woman should be treated by her husband and how a wife was expected to behave in public and in private.

Rosalie would be in the secret cave planning. She would not have been able to stop thinking of her tall brunette friend's revelation that day in the boutique and would be trying to figure out a way to show the girl how she felt about her. That would not be all she planned that night, though. Not only were her feelings for the Swan girl growing stronger by the day, but her feelings for Alice were growing deeper, as well, and now that Alice might be finally seeing what a true douchebag her husband was, it might be time to let the little goth know she had options. If Alice was scared of being alone if she left Jasper, Rosalie wanted her to know she would never let that happen and the blonde had a feeling their friend Izzy felt the same way.

Edward Cullen, who had not bothered Isabella for a while, would be sitting at his piano, staring at the black and white keys, thinking. Thinking about why Rosalie and Isabella, his destined soul mates, seemed repulsed by him but downright chummy with each other. Thinking about why Alice, his little freak, his favorite sister, seemed incapable of being a proper wife to Jasper. Then Edward had an idea and he started thinking about how he could change his circumstances.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: stephenie meyer owns twilight and its characters, not me. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.**

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><p><em>She was dreaming again. She could tell because the world seemed far too hazy for real life. It was like looking through steam rising off the asphalt on an unbearably hot day. She was in her house, their house, the one made out of the trees and built into the trees. The emerald girl and the lavender girl were with her. Of course they were with her, they were always with her, they were practically inseparable. The girls, her girls, her best friends and lovers, glowed emerald and lavender; they were ethereal, they were godly, they were the most magnificent creatures she had ever laid eyes on. She knew all of this, she knew what those girls' faces looked like but she could not remember and she could not see them. The faces were blurred out like someone speaking anonymously on television. She followed them to the bedroom they shared because it had been a long day for them. Demons, wraiths, shades had tried to invade their island. They came in on huge ships with massive decaying holes in the sides and sails so thin they were almost transparent but somehow did not sink into the crystal blue water surrounding her home. She, along with the emerald and lavender girls, and the children they guarded, lived with and loved as their own, the thousands of children doomed to that island for eternity, fought the invaders off together, as a team. It was a long day for them and so Izzy, though that was not her name here, followed her girls into their bedroom just like every night for almost as long as she could remember. This was the place she could seek and find comfort without fail; this was the room she and her girls could show each other how deep their love and devotion was with their entire beings, their entire souls, with reckless abandon because no harm could come to them here. Her father, her real father, had made sure of that. This bedroom was where the grey, emerald, and lavender souls reunited with one another night after night for almost as long as this world existed. This was the bedroom she made love to her true soul mates without being able to see their faces.<em>

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><p>Isabella was walking through the school hall, brand new Tom's black leather brogues squeaking slightly on the waxed linoleum. She readjusted the single ear bud connected to her ipod and pushed up the sleeves of her grey cardigan on her way to French class.<p>

"_I think I saw you in my sleep, darling, I think I saw you in my dreams. You were stitching up the seams on every broken promise that your body couldn't keep. I think I saw you in my sleep, oh."_

Turning the last corner to the literature and languages hall, she saw a familiar head of blonde partially blocked by an annoying, bronze haired, scrawny vampire. They were the only three left in that hall. Rosalie had not seen her friend yet but when the brunette watched Prickward raise his hand as if to slap the blonde, Izzy made a snap decision. It barely took one second for her to make sure no one was around, step into the nearest shadow, and reemerge at the other end of the hall, right behind Edward. She snatched the hand he had raised and twisted it behind his back while ramming him face first into the lockers he stood next to.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she snarled at him.

"She is my mate! I was simply…" That was not turning out to be a good enough explanation for Izzy. She pushed him further into the locker, hearing it creak as she left a crooked faced imprint on the aluminum.

"I don't give a fuck. If you ever raise a hand to her again I will rip off the arm you used and shove it down your throat, you ignorant piece of shit."

Just outside of the French classroom, Rosalie stopped a fuming Izzy with a gentle hand on her forearm. "Thank you. I could have handled that, you know?"

Finally, Isabella relaxed some and released a breath that was half laugh and half sigh. "I know, cherie, but then where would I get my daily dose of shits and giggles?"

* * *

><p>Izzy was trying, she was really trying, to concentrate on drawing a bowl of fruit in the most abstract and non-boring way possible while not openly drooling over Alice Cullen's outfit that day. The petite pixie was wearing a red and black plaid gothic mini dress with a shiny black ribbon laced up the middle and tied just above her cleavage with black-heeled lace-up booties. Izzy thought Alice might be trying to tease her on purpose with the way the shorter girl would bite her bottom lip and twirl her pencil a little too fast or the way she would wrap a delicate finger around some hair and tilt her head, sending waves of her delicious scent toward the human. That girl, no, that woman; that beautiful, beautiful woman smelled like salted caramel coffee and what Izzy imagined mountains would smell like. A cold, damp stone one would only find out in nature far, far away from any person or animal disturbance.<p>

The worst part was that Isabella Swan held fairly high standards of herself. She could not, would not, do anything to break a relationship apart, especially one as long lasting and supposedly deep as 'mates' and spouses. So, no matter how much Alice may or may not tease her and no matter how much Izzy desired that pixie, she would not allow herself to ruin someone else's relationship. And because just thinking about being the catalyst to a divorce was not working for Izzy at the moment, she began to think about Rosalie and the feelings she had for the blonde. Their connection was just as strong as what the brunette had with Alice, more obvious, perhaps, whereas what was between Izzy and the smallest Cullen was discreet and quiet because it had to be that way. The brunette came to the conclusion that she could not be with one without the other and thus decided that if anything were to develop between she and the two vampires, it would have to be the three of them in it together, as a team.

Izzy had completely tuned out the final bell ringing and was still shading around a very interesting looking pear when cold fingers lightly trailed up her neck and scratched the small hairs where her spinal cord met her skull.

"Are you ready, darling?" Alice asked softly.

"Uh… yes, yes I'm ready. Sorry, I got a bit distracted." Izzy answered, gathering her assignment and bag together. Alice held Izzy's hand casually as they stepped out of the hall but instead of turning right, toward the parking lot and their waiting friends and family, Alice lead the human left, toward a women's restroom that the brunette had never seen anyone actually enter.

Inside, Alice guided the taller girl to stand against a stall door while she lithely hopped onto the counter between two sinks. Izzy was perplexed but decided to go along with what Alice had planned, if she had in fact planned this, as they simply looked at each other. Alice had yet to have the opportunity to just stare at her new friend and to study her appearance. It was one of her favorite things to do, study a person, what they wore, how they carried themselves, how they styled their hair, and the expressions on their face. She supposed it came with the territory, as she wanted to be a fashion designer and often sewed her own clothing, but she could not recall ever wanting to just look at a person as eagerly as she did Isabella Swan.

Alice enjoyed what she saw. She had always enjoyed Isabella's physique, appearance, and personal style, but now that she could openly gawk at her friend, she began to notice the small things. Izzy's fingers, for example, were beautiful, long, and fine-boned with perfectly manicured nails even if she didn't seem the type to have her nails done. There were many shades of brown and a little bit of red in the brunette's wavy hair. Izzy held herself at her full height, as tall as the stall door, leaning back against it casually, projecting relaxation, calm, and confidence. She had a long torso; the way her black trousers hung low on her narrow hips and the way her white v-neck and grey cardigan were tucked in at the front made it look like there were a couple of feet between her small breasts and her belt. Alice's favorite discovery, though, was that Isabella's eyes were not always that haunting gunmetal grey. The longer the pixie looked at Izzy's eyes, the lighter they became until Alice glanced away and back again and found them silvery. Maybe her eyes change shades based on emotions like vampires' do?

"Go out with me." Alice blurted. She meant it, now that it was out there, but she did not mean to say it right then.

"I'm sorry?" Izzy asked, wide eyed.

Alice smiled, all perfect teeth and bright eyes. "Go out with me, Isabella. Let's spend time together, just you and I. I want to get to know you more… personally."

After a couple moments hesitation, to process what was really happening to her, Izzy replied. "I would love to, fèe, honestly I would, but I can't. I've promised myself two things in regards to you and your sister and one of those is that I will not come between you and your husband." She choked a little on the last word but managed to spit it out.

Alice tilted her head to the left and squinted her eyes, then nodded. "Alright, I realize that the way I phrased it made it sound like a date. Let's not go on a date, per se, let's just go somewhere and talk. Somewhere we can speak freely and be ourselves, just us. Friends do that, yes?"

"They do. Angela and I do that frequently; in fact, we walk through the woods for privacy. Would you like that?" The brunette asked, rapidly warming up to the idea.

Alice beamed at her again and Izzy felt like she just won a prize. The pixie jumped from the counter and performed a pirouette on her way to take ahold of the human's hand once more. "Oh, I would very much enjoy that. Tomorrow night? Around 10pm? I'll text you where to meet."

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><p>The next day at lunch Rosalie was playing with Izzy's hands under the table. She only did that when she was nervous. The blonde would rub their palms together, and then run her index and thumb along each of the brunette's warm fingers, then start the pattern over again. Edward and Jasper were quiet; Alice seemed livelier despite her husband's brooding, and Izzy was discussing a pregnant rabbit that followed Angela and Emmett home yesterday with a broken foot while picking at her bland veggie wrap.<p>

"Are you alright, Rose?" the human asked her friend during a lull in conversation.

Rosalie took in a deep, unnecessary breath before answering. "Actually, Swan, can I speak to you? You have a free period next, correct?"

As they stood from the table, Alice shot a questioning look at Rosalie who offered a reassuring smile. The blonde lead Izzy to a quiet corner of the library and they sat in chairs next to each other, turning their bodies so they were face to face.

"Take your time, cherie, I'm listening whenever you're ready." Izzy said quietly.

"I don't think I've ever been nervous about a matter like this." The blonde breathed, running a hand through her shiny hair, dislodging several strands but still managing to look gorgeous. "I… have feelings for you, Swan. Solid feelings. You are incredibly attractive, brilliant, mysterious, compassionate, funny, and gentlemanly. I want to be with you but I also have feelings, have had feelings for quite a long time, for another person. That person is unavailable but I felt I should tell you nevertheless because, honestly? I want to be with both of you."

Izzy cocked her head, thinking. She was trying not to let her happiness at Rosalie's feelings towards her become too apparent until she figured out who the 'someone else' was but it was difficult. Begrudgingly, she allowed a small smile to break through, just so Rose would stop fretting.

"Is it Alice?" It might have been just wishful thinking on Isabella's part, but hey, it was possible, wasn't it?

Rosalie's eyes widened and she sat back in her chair. Izzy had her answer right there but Rosalie spoke anyway. "Yes. How… is it that obvious?"

Izzy felt a weight lift from her chest. The burden of having romantic feelings for two women who were best friends, sisters even, evaporated and the brunette was only left with a lighthearted giddy feeling. Maybe what she wanted was possible, after all.

"No, not really. Honestly, I was only hoping I was right. I have the same feelings, Rose. For you and for Alice."

The human was graced with the most breathtaking smile she had yet to see from the blonde vampire and her chest swelled with pride. She made that happen, she put that blinding smile on Rosalie Lillian Hale's perfect face.

Rose and Izzy continued to quietly converse in the back corner of the library for the remainder of Izzy's free period, faces close together, smiling and laughing. The human walked Rosalie to her literature class and snuck an innocent kiss on the cheek before winking and heading towards her own woodshop two halls over. She, Angela, and Emmett turned a weather-beaten 12x12 pallet into a cherry wood stained coffee table on wheels and then began trying to teach themselves how to whittle on their failed birdhouse from the first week of school. Rosalie inconspicuously used her vampire speed to meet Isabella outside of the woodshop classroom just as the bell rang. The brunette was a few inches taller than the blonde that day because Rose opted for black flats so Izzy swung her arm around the vampires shoulders and guided them towards French, winking at Ms. Conrad on the way in.

The class was given a worksheet to complete in pairs, phrases to say and ask one another, and since both Izzy and Rosalie were fluent in the language they had their own conversation.

"Aller sur une date avec moi?" (Go on a date with me?) Rosalie asked quietly, shifting in her hard plastic seat to cross her long legs.

"Absolument. Quand?" (Absolutely. When?)

Rosalie grinned at the easy acceptance. "Samedi?" (Saturday)

"Sure but, just so you know, I have work at 10pm that night."

Rosalie pursed her lips, nodding, thinking that she only had two and a half days to plan an amazing date and… Izzy had a job?

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><p><strong>The song Izzy was listening to is Such Small Hands by La Dispute, my absolute favorite band ever. Check them out.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: stephenie meyer owns twilight and its characters, not me. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.**

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><p>"So, when is your birthday?" Alice Cullen asked Izzy Swan as she nimbly skipped and twirled around fallen sticks and bushes as she lead the taller brunette through the forest near the small park they had met up at. Alice was dressed far more casually than Izzy was used to seeing her; just wearing a simple grey t-shirt, black yoga pants, and nike running shoes. Izzy, herself, had to dig deep into her dresser to find a pair of grey sweatpants that she pulled up just below her knees, a dark red zip-up hoodie, and some old and beat up slip on vans.<p>

"December third. When is yours?" Izzy answered, eyes tracking every elegant movement the smaller girl made. Alice was like a ballerina, a dangerous ballerina whose feet hardly even touched the ground.

"Sometime in 1901." The vampire said in a far away voice, which either meant she was having a vision or she did not wish to speak about it that moment. "And what age will you be turning on December third, Isabella Swan?"

The human, who did occasionally need to rest, guided the bouncing pixie to a large fallen log and took a seat. "I will be turning twenty." After seeing Alice's raised eyebrows, she decided to explain why she would be a twenty-year-old senior in high school. "Do you mind if I smoke?" Izzy asked the vampire, remembering their sensitive noses. Alice shook her head with a small smile and the brunette pulled out a djarum black.

"When my parents divorced, I was ten and in fifth grade. My mother took me with her when she left Forks; the only problem was that she didn't have a plan or a destination in mind. We ended up hotel hopping all down the coast until she fell in love with Phoenix, Arizona. By the time we settled there, my fifth grade year was already over and I hadn't completed it. Then, my mother's new husband kicked me out of their house on my eighteenth birthday, while I was in my junior year of high school. I managed to finish the year living out of my car and showering in the gym locker rooms but I left Phoenix once the year was over. I spent a while in my car trying to decide where to go and eventually ended up back at Charlie's. And now, here I am."

Alice thought the human's answer over while she watched the girl lean back against a tree and close her eyes; inhaling her clove cigarette and exhaling sweet smelling smoke circles. Izzy had answered in such a matter of fact way that the vampire could not determine if she was upset that she had missed two years of schooling because the circumstances were out of her control or not. After some thought, Alice shared her own story. She told the human of how she was born in Mississippi in 1901, sent to an insane asylum then changed into a vampire in 1920, how she was not aware vampires could live off of animals for years until she had a vision of the Olympic Coven, how she saw Jasper and travelled across the country to meet him in a diner and they joined the vegetarian coven years later. All the while, slowly gravitating closer and closer towards her friend like magnets.

Izzy listened with rapt attention. She had gleaned most of this information through various conversations with Angela, Rosalie, Emmett, and Alice herself, but it was entirely different to watch the tiny goth tell the story. The brunette looked on, fascinated, observing every minute shift in facial expression. Happiness when speaking of her hometown, fear and anger when talking about the wretched place she was sent to as a young girl, remorse and embarrassment when telling Izzy of the humans she killed to survive, and finally joy and excitement when talking of her family and Forks.

When Alice finished speaking and Izzy was processing the information given to her, the human put her smoke out; her hands itching to touch the vampire and doing her absolute best not to look at the ring on Alice's finger.

"Do you feel this, fèe?" The brunette gestured between their bodies that neither girl noticed were much closer than when they initially sat down.

Alice pursed her lips and closed her eyes. "The pull? Like you and I are magnets and we are keeping ourselves apart? I've felt it everyday since you introduced yourself in the school parking lot."

Izzy released a long breath and held out her hand, hoping the little vampire would get the message. Alice placed her much smaller palm directly over the human's and watched in wonder as Izzy's long fingers closed around hers, warming her hand instantly. The brunette swiftly guided Alice to sit on her lap, legs around her waist, and Alice pressed her adorable nose to the human's pounding pulse point, taking deep inhales of Izzy's dark woodsy scent from her neck.

"In the restroom at school," Alice spoke softly into the human's neck, "you said you promised yourself two things in regards to Rose and me. You only told me one, what was the other?"

"That I could not be with one of you without the other. That I want both of you."

Alice finally relaxed completely at the admission. The brunette took it as a good sign and fully leaned back against the tree she was resting on, closing her eyes and burying her nose in the vampire's wild hair, smelling salted caramel and mountains. They sat that way, comfortable in the silence, for hours. It was only a hug but it felt terribly intimate for both women, almost forbidden; like they were doing something wrong by fitting together perfectly like matching puzzle pieces.

* * *

><p>Friday turned out to be bright and sunny, therefore, the Cullens would not be in school. Izzy left early to pick up her best friend on the way to class, singing along with her ipod.<p>

_"__I thought I heard a door open, oh no, thought I heard a door open but I only heard it close. Thought I heard a plane crashing, but now I think it was your passion snapping."_

When Izzy pulled up to the house Angela Webber shared with her single mother and young twin brothers, her best friend was leading a doe out of the garage. Angela stopped and waved at her friend before turning and looking straight into the animal's eyes, having a conversation, it seemed, then petted it's head and the doe was on it's way into the woods.

"Good morning, love. I've missed you." Angela greeted, leaning over the center console of Izzy's Mustang to place a kiss on her best friend's cheek.

"Missed you too, Angel. How have you been? How is Emmett? Tell me about the doe." The taller brunette asked.

Angela spent ten minutes of the fifteen-minute ride to school telling her friend about what she had been up to. Mostly just studying, helping animals that trailed her home or showed up on her doorstep, walking in the woods with Emmett and speaking to the trees and shrubs. She told Izzy about the doe getting separated from her mother while running from a cougar the night before and how they watched Bambi in the garage together. Izzy was hard pressed how that movie could give a real life doe any hope because that film broke her heart and, she would never tell a soul, but she cried for hours after watching it.

"Ange, have you been having the dreams?" Izzy questioned her friend when they turned onto the school road. They needed to have this conversation but she did not want to prolong it simply because they had the time.

"I have. Almost every time I sleep. Though, they have been getting more vivid and detailed as of late. Why?"

"Just checking. Mine are getting more vibrant, as well. They used to be so fuzzy I could barely make out shapes and now it's just like watching a movie. I'm also going through more scenarios than previously. Do you think it's because you and I are close together again?"

Angela didn't have an answer for Izzy Swan because she truly did not know and Izzy did not expect an answer from her friend. They exited the car and went about their day as usual, though it was much noteworthy without the Cullens around.

* * *

><p>Izzy received a text from Rosalie Friday night confirming their date for Saturday. She did not notice the message until well past 1am but she told Rosalie they were still on. The blonde vampire was a bit miffed that Izzy's response took so long but decided to let it go and ask questions the next day.<p>

Saturday morning, Izzy dragged herself out of bed only six hours after getting home at almost five in the morning. She showered and dressed herself, not quite knowing what the day would entail, in dark-wash destroyed jeans tucked into black lace-up combat boots, a well-fit black v-neck and her lucky grey beanie. She was contemplating the pros and cons of opening up a vein and pouring her coffee straight into it when the woman she was waiting for called with a location to meet.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprising as Forks was quite a small town, they met at the same park Izzy had seen Alice at two days prior. Izzy watched the blonde vampire step out of her cherry red Camaro z28, grinning at what she saw. Rosalie was wearing a blue and black checked Hollister button up on top of tight black capris and navy blue low-top chucks; definitely a sexy nerd.

"Thank you for meeting me." Rosalie whispered shyly, tucking a strand of golden hair behind her ear.

"No, thank you, cherie. It's not often I have things to look forward to." Izzy answered, pulling a white stemmed rose from her back pocket and tucking it behind the blonde's ear.

They held hands as they strolled through the forest. Izzy did not know where Rose was leading her but it was a beautiful day and she was enjoying the idle chat on their way. Rosalie was playing with Izzy's fingers again.

"Rose, what's there to be nervous about?" Isabella asked, gently squeezing the hand she held.

The vampire let out an awkward chuckle. "I've never taken anyone on a date before. I wasn't sure what you would enjoy. I thought a restaurant would be awkward because I don't eat, we couldn't really talk in a movie, I can't drink coffee either so that was out…" she trailed off as her companion pulled them to a stop and turned to face her with a serious face.

"Stop, stop. Relax, okay? Whatever it is, I'm going to enjoy it simply because you will be there." The human replied.

When they finally arrived at their destination, all Izzy saw was a very old, very wide tree. They had been walking for almost half an hour to find this tree so it must be exceptional. It must have been about ten feet in diameter and was set in the center of a field of scented flowers.

"We're going to the top. Would you like to climb or ride on my back?" Rose had regained her famous confidence and smirked at the human with a raised eyebrow.

"Just a minute, let me try something." The brunette answered distractedly.

Izzy stepped back and surveyed the tree again. Then she studied the shadow she could see, shadows of the trunk, shadows of the branches and leaves. Slowly, she stepped into the largest shadow at the base of the trunk and came out on a thick branch almost fifty feet up with a cocky grin on her face, looking down at Rosalie's astonished expression. That is how they got to the top of the tree; Izzy allowed the vampire to lead them by using her supernatural strength to jump between limbs and Izzy would transport herself right after her. When they reached the spot, Isabella Swan stood motionless on a branch, mouth faintly ajar.

Someone, she assumed Rosalie and her vampire family had built a very sturdy looking wooden bench onto a very thick branch at the top of this tree. The bench was secured on the bottom by what could be called a deck underneath it, tied and drilled into the branch, and secured from the top by rope as thick as Izzy's thigh.

"Don't be worried, Iz. Emmett, Alice, and I sat on it and jostled around for a bit to be sure it was stable. Come on." Rosalie assured the human.

Izzy breathed a sigh of relief once she was settled into the seat next to her date and the bench did not sway or creak at all. Now, she had a moment to take in the view. She felt like she could see the entire sky, she saw mountains in the far off distance and a body of water. What was incredible was that in this precise spot, they had an unobstructed view, no trees or branches tall enough to block their eyesight.

They looked up each other's favorite songs and video on youtube until Rosalie just couldn't pay attention anymore. Sitting so close to Isabella was delicious torture. The vampire thought she could feel the electricity leaping off their skin where their arms were a hairsbreadth away from touching, she was getting high on Swan's scent surrounding her, her hands were actually cramping from clenching them repeatedly so as not to randomly grope at her date.

"Isabella, I really need to touch you." Rosalie whispered into Izzy's ear.

Izzy had just been searching for another song to listen to with the vampire when she felt cold lip graze the shell of her ear; she choked a little bit on her spit and put her phone away. She turned her body to face the blonde and said, "Touch me then."

Rosalie leaned back a little bit and examined Swan's body, as if it was difficult to decide where to lay hands first. She tilted her upper body forward again, their noses inches from each other, and asked, "Can I kiss you?" without looking away from Izzy's quickly darkening grey eyes. As Izzy nodded, she licked her lips, and Rosalie glanced down at the flash of tongue, the corner of her mouth pulling up. The blonde moved her face to the left of the brunette's, at the junction of shoulder and neck, and placed a chaste kiss on the cool skin she had revealed by pulling the girl's collar.

Izzy let out a short gasp. Rose nuzzled upwards on the brunette's neck until she was at the sensitive place behind the earlobe and breathed in deeply, savoring the scent and the warmth. "Can I kiss you here?" Izzy felt more than heard the question, cold lips ghosting over warm skin, but she raised her arm and pushed between the vampire's shoulder blades to bring her closer, granting permission at the same time. This kiss was not as chaste, Rosalie dragged her tongue from Izzy's jawline all the way around the shell of her ear before opening her mouth and kissing that sensitive spot until the human was rhythmically fisting the back of the vampire's shirt.

Izzy leaned back against the armrest of the bench and maneuvered Rosalie's knees to either side of her. Rosalie pulled back, eyes darkening by the second, an extremely glad that Isabella's blood did not call to her. The blonde lowered her body until she was sitting on Swan's lap and they were face to face. She lifted her perfectly manicured index finger and traced the human's parted lips. "Can I kiss you here?"

Izzy closed the distance first, fingers gripping Rosalie's waist, and head tilted down. To her, it was like kissing a cold feather. She thought the vampire's lips would be rock hard like most of their bodies but they weren't. Rosalie's lips were feather soft, plump, and pliable. Izzy pulled Rosalie a bit closer and that's when the blonde felt the human's erection. She ground down on Izzy's lap again and gasped at the sensation, Izzy taking the opportunity to slip her tongue inside the vampire's mouth.

_"__Oh we can blame it on our hands, they lifted the drink to our mouths so we drank it. Or we could blame it on our bodies, they say we like the way we feel when we get touched."_

Izzy jumped and jerked so violently at the interruption of the phone call that Rosalie actually went tumbling off of her lap and into midair. The vampire was quickly yanked back up by her date, but the damage was done, the moment ruined.

"That was my job, they left a voicemail that they need me to come in a few hours early tonight. I'm so sorry, cherie." Izzy frantically explained while checking Rosalie over for any impossible injuries.

On the walk back to their vehicles they loosely held hands and each were inside their own heads contemplating the intense chemistry between them.

"Oh, I keep meaning to ask you, Iz, what is your job exactly?" The blonde asked.

"I've been DJing up in Port Angeles. A club called Tartarus."

* * *

><p><strong>The first song is a continuation of Such Small Hands by La Dispute and the second is Bury Your Flames by the same band.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**sorry for the wait guys. i recently starting working at a new club and have had to adjust to the late nights and the massive amounts of extra training. super long chapter for you though!**

**disclaimer: stephenie meyer owns twilight and its characters, not me. i'm just borrowing them for some fun.**

* * *

><p>Alice Cullen was an artist down to her core. Anyone who knew her at all could tell. Her husband understood it better than anyone; they had been together for decades, after all, even longer than they had been with the Cullen family. So two months ago, when Alice started spending more and more time away from the house, she would explain it away by spouting vague things about inspiration and creative ideas. No one questioned her at first. When Jasper touched her suggestively, she would suddenly shrink away and dart off saying she was hit with an idea and Jasper would accept it because it had happened on occasion throughout their relationship. But after about a month of not touching her husband, actually having no desire to touch her husband, she knew Jasper was starting to suspect something. He would look at her oddly when she left but had not asked any questions until recently.<p>

Alice Cullen was never one to run from her problems, but things changed. Jasper tried to have sex with her that night, like any husband would, but he was much more forceful than usual. There was a moment, after her refusal and during the argument, where she realized that she was steadily losing the need to be around him, that she had lost the craving to sleep with her husband. It had been that way for two months. Isabella Swan showed up two months ago. The idea worried Alice; the idea that she could be in love with a man for over eighty years and suddenly a stranger shows up and everything changes. But what scared her more was Jasper himself. She certainly could not blame him for being upset and angry that she had lost the urge to spend time with him but screaming at her, using his gift to manipulate her emotions, and then hitting her was unacceptable. Alice recognized the change in her husband was gradual; it had been coming for years, and not entirely having to do with Isabella Swan, but the man she had just left in their shared bedroom at the Cullen house was not the man she married.

The tiny vampire was not surprised that her panicked feet lead her all the way to Port Angeles, to Tartarus, the club Isabella Swan had been DJing at. She easily found her friend's car on the side of the building, in employee parking, and gingerly sat herself on the hood of the Mustang. Alice knew the human would not be shocked to find her there. Ever since Izzy had finally told Rosalie where she worked, the vampire sisters had been running to Port Angeles every weekend to escort their friend home safely because the establishment was not in the best part of town and was known to have some shady patrons. If Alice was honest with herself, she knew Rosalie came for Izzy's safety, as the blonde vampire got to see Izzy much more outside of school than her, and Alice came to squeeze in as much alone time with her human friend as possible. Ever since that day in the woods, where they acknowledged the pull between them, it was almost physically painful not to touch Izzy.

Alice had hopped off the car and was pacing in front of it, tugging at her hair, when the DJ finally stepped out of the exit. When Izzy looked up from her phone and smiled at the sight of Alice near her car, the vampire felt her stress start to melt away. It was like shrugging out of a heavy, rain soaked jacket and stepping inside your warm house. Before she was conscious of her feet moving, Alice had taken three long strides and jumped into her tall friend's arms. The brunette caught Alice, of course, because Izzy had always and would always catch her; Alice somehow instinctively knew that.

"What's wrong, love?" Izzy asked while setting Alice back on top of the car's hood.

"How do you know something is wrong?" Alice would not look Izzy in the eyes, choosing instead to fiddle with the black string and feather pendant hanging from the girl's neck.

"I can feel it," Izzy answered, dragging her fingers through the vampire's windblown hair. "I don't know how but I can feel that you are confused and scared. Tell me, fèe."

"Just… another fight with Jasper."

Izzy tensed and her hands flexed on the back of Alice's neck, just once. She was not blind; she could see as clearly as anyone else that Alice and Jasper's relationship had been strained as of late. The things Rosalie would tell her about how the empath acted at home and the way he had been treating his wife recently made her want to punch something but she and the blonde vampire had decided, together, not to influence the marriage lest Alice resent them for it in the future.

"I can tell that you don't want to talk to me about it," Izzy sighed, "but… just know that you can. I will always listen and I will never judge you. Is there anything I can do?"

Alice looked so sad, so conflicted, that Izzy would have done just about anything at that moment. The vampire laid one hand on the human's cheek and the other flat against her chest, just over her heart, feeling the unusually slow rhythm and said, "I just need to be here. I just need to see you, look at you, touch you."

It was a very easy request to grant. They stayed there, enveloped in each other for a long while. The parking lot eventually emptied and Izzy randomly looked up, towards the woods on the other side of the street and saw a pair of familiar glowing grey eyes low to the ground. She had been seeing those eyes just about everywhere for almost a month.

* * *

><p>Rosalie was relaxing in her brand new king sized bed. She bought it just in case she could ever convince her girlfriend to visit the Cullen house. She was reading a book recommended to her by said girlfriend called <em>House of Leaves<em> in just her deep purple lacy bra and a pair of baggy black sweat pants she nicked from Izzy. There was a knock on her door and she bid the person enter, dog earing her page and setting the book on the nightstand to her left.

Alice Cullen entered timidly; that was the first thing Rosalie noticed about the girl, Alice Cullen was almost never timid. The blonde vampire had been holding her tongue about the negative changes in her sister over the past few years due to what she thought was Jasper's influence. Alice hadn't been as bright or hyperactive as she used to be, she tended to chose her words very carefully around her husband lately, and she and Rose had been spending less time at their secret cave, not for lack of invitations on the blonde vampire's part.

"Hey Rose, all the boys are hunting and Esme is in her study working. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Alice asked.

It seemed to Rosalie that Alice had been waiting for the rest of the family to be busy before talking to her, which the blonde didn't understand because all of the bedrooms were soundproofed for privacy even among vampires, but she nodded and gestured for her sister to take a seat on the bed.

Alice sat at the foot of the large bed, cross-legged and facing Rosalie. She took a deep breath and began. "I know you are aware that you and I have always been more than sisters." Alice looked up as if asking for confirmation. Rosalie pursed her lips and nodded encouragingly. "We have always been incredibly close; flirting, touching, cuddling, and then there's the connection between us, like we know a part of each other that no one else can reach." Rosalie was nodding, silently agreeing to everything Alice was saying, but Alice didn't notice, too focused on twisting her fingers around each other in her lap.

"I… have been thinking about this for a while and I think I've been falling out of love with Jasper for years. He is a different person now, especially in the last couple of months. He isn't the man that I fell in love with and he isn't the man that I married. I will always love the Jasper I first met but… I don't love the Jasper he is now. He scares me, Rose." Alice looked up with watery eyes and covered her mouth with a delicate hand as if surprised that she had actually voiced her feelings aloud and the world had not come crashing down around her.

Rosalie quickly pulled her sister into her lap with Alice dry sobbing into her neck and ran her long fingers through the tiny vampire's short hair. "It's okay, love. It's okay to feel that way. There's nothing wrong with that." After a few minutes to pull herself together, Alice leaned back with her arms around Rosalie's neck and her legs wrapped around the blonde's bare mid-section.

"There's more, Rose." Alice breathed, sounding almost afraid of what she had to tell.

"Go ahead, sweetie. I'm here, I'm listening."

"I… have always loved you, I think you know that. I've always loved you more than a sister should, adopted or not, but… I've always felt like there was a piece missing when we were together. Don't get me wrong, I am and always have been happy with just you but there was always something absent, something that would make it perfect. Do you know what I mean?"

"I do." Rosalie said into Alice's soft hair. "I had noticed it as well. Like we were two thirds of a whole. At first I assumed it was because you were meant to be with Jasper but… lately I've realized that wasn't it." She finished. Rosalie had a good idea of where this conversation was leading and she was finding it difficult not to jump up and down and scream in joy but she and Isabella had agreed that they would not influence Alice's relationship decisions or come between the married couple more than necessary.

Alice pulled back to look into her sister's eyes, brushing a stray blonde lock behind Rosalie's ear. "I'm scared to tell you the rest." The brunette bit her lip and glanced away, out the window on the far side of the room.

"It's okay, Ali, don't be scared."

After a heavy sigh, Alice revealed her secret. "I feel whole when I'm with you and Iz. Both of you together make me feel complete and I… I'm in love with you, Rosalie. And I'm in love with Izzy, too."

Alice stared at Rosalie's beautiful, perfect face for what felt like hours. The small vampire was nervous about her sister's reaction, not about her feelings for Rosalie but about her feelings for Isabella Swan. It wasn't often that vampires could have such an open and honest conversation about what they considered their mates. It was not unheard of but certainly rare for a vampire to share their mate with another. Slowly, Rosalie's face went from blank shock to beaming happiness and she pulled her sister into her chest and nearly crushed her with the force of her hug.

"Oh, thank God. Thank God, Thank God, Thank God!" Rosalie chanted.

The conversation cleared a lot of things up between Alice and Rosalie but that didn't mean Alice wasn't still scared shitless about breaking up with Jasper. She didn't know how, or when, to do it and she didn't know how he would react. She hoped he would accept it like the gentleman he used to be and bow out with grace but… with the way he had been acting lately she was expecting a lot of yelling, some manipulation, and maybe even violence.

* * *

><p>"You look sexy, Ali." Was breathed against Alice's ear, cool lips against her skin, and the back of her sinfully short skirt was ruffled. The small vampire turned quickly to see Rosalie dashing off to her room, sending a wink over her shoulder.<p>

Alice was sure her sister and Izzy Swan had discussed what she and Rosalie talked about the previous weekend, but in the week that followed, Izzy had not changed her behavior in the slightest. Only Rosalie changed and Alice was hard pressed to find anything negative about the increased flirting and boldness of the blonde's touches. She still had not ended things with Jasper, choosing to slowly distance herself from him for some time hoping that would lessen the blow, but she had secretly had divorce papers drawn up.

It was Saturday night, it was Halloween, and Alice just wanted to dance and forget about her troubles and the stress. Izzy had invited her, Rosalie, Angela, and Emmett to Tartarus for their annual Halloween costume bash and they all decided to collaborate their outfits. Angela and Emmett were going as Tiger Lily and Captain Hook, respectively, and were already downstairs waiting in the garage for the girls to finish getting ready.

Rosalie was dressing as Wendy Darling, though her clothing and accessories were very steampunk. The blonde's sheer light blue babydoll dress was open from waist to knee, showing skintight brown leather pants and two thigh holsters decorated with gears and cogs. Her brown lace-up combat boots came almost to her knees and looked realistically scuffed and worn. The top half of her dress was almost see-through, showcasing her toned figure and cream corset and she wore a blue and brown plaid small top hat encircled with brass gears, cogs, and buttons.

Alice was going as a gothic Tinkerbelle. She hated to be predictable but she pulled it off so well. Her dark hair was spiked and even more messy than usual. She was wearing an amethyst colored corset secured with black satin ribbon in the back where her glittery purple fairy wings swayed gently. Her sheer ruffled black skirt barely concealed the amethyst garter belt holding up sparkling black stockings that lead to four inch purple ankle boots.

"Not so bad, yourself, Blondie." Alice kissed Rosalie's cheek quickly, snatching the blonde's hand. "Ready?" she asked. At her sister's nod, Alice led the blonde vampire downstairs where Angela and Emmett were waiting for them.

"You look good tonight, Swan. Is that supposed to be Peter Pan?" Eran, Isabella Swan's manager asked her. She knew he wasn't hitting on her, like the rest of the staff had that night, because they had formed a bond over the last couple months. He had become a sort of father figure for her. She had no idea why he cared about her but she couldn't deny the way she felt like she already knew him when they were first introduced or the fact that she felt inexplicably safe in his presence.

"Yeah, I'm Pan tonight." Izzy answered, filling another drink for a thirsty patron. She was working bar until her break, where she would spend some time with the girls, and then she would close the club DJing. "The girls wanted to coordinate costumes so we are all from Neverland."

"Ah, well, it seems to be paying off, huh? Don't think I don't see all your pockets filled with tips." Eran shouted from the other end of the counter.

The brunette laughed but silently had to agree with him. She had come as Pan but all of the store costumes were ridiculous so she made her own. She wore a forest green slouchy beanie with a red feather stuck into the side and tight black and green pinstriped trousers tucked into brown leather fold-over boots. What was getting her all the tips, though, was probably her top… or lack there-of. She didn't mean to go for the BDSM, bondage kind of look but well, it just sort of happened. Her top consisted of three brown leather straps; two going over her shoulders, hiding her nipples, and buckling to the inside of her trousers between her hips, and one thicker strap going horizontally over her small breasts. Her black string necklace and feather pendant hung in the center of her breastbone and her pants were so low cut that her series of hard abs led down to her prominent v muscle between sharp hip bones.

Eventually, Angela text Izzy to tell her they were in the parking lot and the tall brunette found her replacement in the locker room then headed outside. She just followed the direction men and women were craning their necks, mouths slightly open, to find her friends.

"Hello ladies, Emmett." She dipped her head in greeting to all of them.

"Jesus, baby, you look incredible." The blonde vampire hissed, leaning in for a hello kiss.

"Stunning as always, darling." Izzy complimented Rosalie. "Alice, I think you might have outdone yourself tonight." She winked at the small vampire who might have blushed if she could. "Angela, love, would you like to show our vampires what we've created for them?" She asked, gesturing to the trunk of her car.

"Yes!" Angela Webber, who was dressed as Tiger Lily with turquoise and red face paint and authentic looking buckskin skirt and top, squealed in excitement.

Izzy and her best friend popped her trunk and dug around a little bit. The vampires could hear what sounded like clinking glass bottles. Finally, each girl surfaced holding bottles of strawberry and pineapple vodka; the only abnormality was that the usually clear liquid in the bottles was tinged red.

"What's in those?" Emmett asked, speaking for all of the vampires.

"Our blood." Angela said nonchalantly. "Mine is in the pineapple bottle, that's for you, Em. Izzy's is in the strawberry bottle for the girls."

"Yes," Izzy continued. "We thought it was only fair you three be able to drink since Ange and I will be and since our blood does not call to any of you, neither of us are in any danger."

Izzy could see the skeptical looks on Alice and Rosalie's faces but she hoped they would try this experiment. Emmett sniffed his bottle thoroughly before deciding to hell with it and tipped it back over his mouth. Angela watched with bated breath, genuinely hoping he liked the taste of her blood mixed with his favorite flavor when he was human. Emmett closed his eyes and breathed deeply while he let the taste linger in his mouth. He finally opened his eyes, which had gotten a tad lighter, and exhaled a slight moan.

"Shiiiiit, that's good, Ange!" He kissed her lips briefly before downing the rest of the bottle.

His sisters followed his example and shared their strawberry bottle, their eyes lightening as well, while Izzy and Angela took three tequila shots each.

"Alright! Who's ready to dance their asses off?" Emmett announced.

They all headed back inside, through the employee entrance around back, and weaved their way through the dance floor. For a while, Izzy and Rosalie were content to let Alice dance with random people as long as she was near them, but it became too much when a couple of completely drunk men started grabbing the tiny vampire too roughly.

"Come dance with us, Tink." Izzy said, pulling Alice in between her and Rosalie.

Of course, the pace of the music changed then and Alice, who was facing Rosalie snaked her arms around the blonde's neck and started to rotate her ass that was practically in Izzy's lap. Izzy knew of the conversation between Rosalie and Alice the last week but she also knew that Alice was still wearing Japer's ring. She and Rosalie had come to an agreement not to have sex until the tiny vampire was with them; they wanted their first time to be the three of them together and the blonde did her best not to tease Izzy but, maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the tight space and all the hormones surrounding them, Izzy didn't know, but she was sure these girls were going to test her control tonight.

The song changed again and Alice began grinding against Izzy in earnest. She slipped her left hand into the small soft hairs at the base of Rosalie's neck and her right hand drifted behind her to grip the back of Izzy's neck. She was looking straight into Rosalie's eyes as the blonde smirked and insinuated a thigh between Alice's legs. Alice sighed at the pressure, thankful for the contact. All the while, each circular pass of her tight, round ass was hitting the perfect spot for Izzy and she began to feel the bulge in the brunette's pants grazing against her.

"Are you enjoying yourself, fèe?" Isabella whispered in her ear, just loud enough to be heard over the thumping of the bass.

Instead of answering verbally, she removed her hand from the back of the taller girl's neck and wrapped it around Izzy's thigh, pulling the girl behind her more forcefully against her ass. Izzy laughed breathily and slid her hands around Alice's shoulders, down her bare arms, around her waist, and into her skirt, gently squeezing the sensitive spot inside her hipbones until Alice gasped and bucked back, roughly grinding into Izzy's hardening bulge.

Rosalie watched all this in awe; seeing Alice with her eyes closed, lips parted as she enjoyed the pleasure and simply let herself go for the first time in who knew how long, was a special thing and she didn't want to miss any of it. She brought a long fingered hand up from where it was drawing intricate patterns over the small vampire's ribs and traced the girls sculpted eyebrow, trailing down to run the pad of her thumb lightly over a plump bottom lip. She looked up and made eye contact with her girlfriend over Alice's shoulder. Izzy gave her an encouraging smile and nod; Rosalie winked at the tall brunette and looked back at Alice.

"Ali, love, open your eyes." Rosalie said softly.

Alice slowly opened her eyes and tried her best to focus on her sister but it was hard when her muscular thigh was rubbing against her clit and Izzy was behind her pulling her ass into her stiff dick.

"I want to kiss you now, so badly." Rosalie stated. "Is that all right with you?"

And Alice could only nod as she watched Rosalie's face get closer. She licked her lips just before the blonde's mouth met hers. They had never kissed before, she and Rose. Lingering looks, sure, pecks on the cheek and almost innocent touches, yes, but no kissing on the lips and now Alice knew why. Had she kissed Rosalie any sooner, her life would have been entirely different. There would have been no way to lie to herself thinking she could make things work with Jasper, no way to ignore the funny feelings in the pit of her stomach whenever she so much as looked at the blonde. Of course, there were no fireworks or angels singing but there was something significant. Something strong that flooded her system with warmth a vampire shouldn't be able to feel. It felt like she regained a piece of herself as she cupped the blonde's face with her shaking hands. Something small but vital clicked into place when Rosalie wrapped her arms around her middle and pulled the tiny goth flush against her body.

Neither of them noticed when Izzy stepped away, huge grin on her face, and that was okay because Izzy didn't want them to.

* * *

><p>It was nearing the end of the night. Izzy's two-hour break had ended and she showed her friends to the booth behind her DJ station. They rested on the plush leather couches for a while before Emmett got bored and they went back down to dance. Izzy would watch them from her perch over the dance floor and occasionally Rosalie would bring her bottles of water and a sweet kiss. Now, with thirty minutes left, the group gathered in the booth to meet Eran, who Izzy had asked to come up for introductions.<p>

"You have exquisite taste in women and friends, DJ." Angela blushed at the compliment while Alice and Rose smiled and Emmett puffed his chest out proudly.

"I do, don't I, sir?" For some reason she couldn't explain, Izzy was nervous of this man, that she so greatly respected, meeting her girlfriend and close friends. She couldn't understand why she wanted his acceptance so badly.

"Stop with the sir nonsense, DJ. How many times have I told you to call me Eran? Now, why don't you put on a few songs for autoplay and start packing up and I will finish out the night for you? You worked hard, you deserve an early night."

Izzy thanked Eran as he left while Rosalie followed her brother and Angela outside to see them off. Alice had disappeared somewhere but when Izzy stepped back into the station, she saw the tiny goth fairy sitting next to her mixing board, legs crossed and twirling a lock of hair with her fingers. Alice seemed to be scrolling through her phone so Izzy forwent conversation and began to pack up her personal equipment. When she was done, Alice was staring intently at her, still twirling her hair and now biting her bottom lip.

"Have you had a good night, fèe?" she asked, going to stand between Alice's legs while she still sat on the table.

"I have." The vampire answered simply. She was playing with the string necklace Izzy always wore and Izzy knew that was a sign of nervousness.

"Something on your mind?" The human asked.

Alice hiked her legs up father, so they sat atop the brunette's hips, and pulled Izzy in with her legs. Izzy slid her hands up Alice's thighs, thumbs toying with the hidden garter belt.

"Kiss me?" Alice asked.

Izzy leaned forward and peppered kisses along Alice's eyes, down over her cheek, and lastly just beneath her earlobe.

"Nice, but not quite what I had in mind." Alice exhaled.

"I know, Ali, but I can't. Not while you're still wearing this." Izzy lifted the vampire's hand and twisted the gold ring on her wedding finger.

"I…"

"It's alright. You don't need to explain." Izzy cut the girl off. "I will wait for you, as long as it takes, but I will not be the catalyst to a divorce."

Alice nodded, looking slightly ashamed, but Izzy kissed her cute nose and she felt a little better. They left together, hand in hand, and met with Rosalie in the parking lot. The two vampires drove back to Forks together and Izzy headed back to her basement dwelling.

* * *

><p>Izzy was exhausted. It had been a long day, a long night, and she had gone through a myriad of emotions at the club. She blasted her music all the way back to Forks to keep herself awake and sighed in relief as she pulled up next to the basement's window.<p>

"What a fucking slut. You seriously go out in public dressed like that?"

Fuck. Izzy sighed heavily.

"Hello Charlie."

* * *

><p><strong>an: if you haven't read it yet, check out _House of Leaves_ by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's amazing and is my absolute favorite book.**


	7. Chapter 7

**WARNING:** violence, abuse, and mention of suicide. Skip between the / part if that might trigger you.

**disclaimer: stephenie meyer owns twilight and its characters, not me. i'm just borrowing them for some fun.**

* * *

><p>Izzy stayed unconscious, flat on her stomach, and naked from the waist up until early Sunday evening. When she awoke, she simply blinked her eyes for a while then tried to twist to see the clock on her bedside table. That was a mistake. Not only was she raw and sore but there were layers of dried blood caked to her skin, ripping at her flesh each time she moved. She knew she had to get up and clean herself as best she could, though. She could not see a doctor for something like this; not in this town, not when everyone knew she was the Chief of Police's daughter.<p>

It was a struggle to drag herself into the shower but not as bad as she was expecting. She stripped her pants and snatched a stray piece of leather that Charlie had cut away the night before, placed it between her teeth, turned on the water and steadied herself facing the back wall of the tiled shower stall. She damn near bit through the thick leather strap in an attempt to muffle her agony; tears rolled down her face and mixed with the steaming water. When she saw the water run clear into the drain, she turned and washed her front. She reached for the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and replaced the leather strap between her teeth. She used half the bottle, bending over and pouring it over her shoulder. She shot a fist out and made a dent and fissure in the tiled wall, trying to block out the pain.

After all that, she was exhausted again. Izzy slipped on a pair of boxers and collapsed face first into her bed for the rest of the night.

* * *

><p>As soon as Angela and Emmett saw Izzy pull into the school parking lot Monday morning, Emmett was sprinting at human speed to greet his new favorite person. He swiftly scooped her up into his signature bear hug as soon as her car door closed.<p>

"Saturday night was awesome!" He cheered.

Angela, though, was watching her best friends face and saw the reaction that Emmett didn't see. Izzy cringed and squeezed her eyes shut. _Keep breathing, block out the pain,_ she chanted.

"Hey, Iz, are you alright? You look a little green." Emmett asked, sounding genuinely concerned for his new friend.

"Yeah, yeah, Em. I'm not just feeling too well this morning, is all." The human replied.

"Oh, okay. Well, I hope you feel better soon. I have to run, got a group presentation first period. See ya!" He finished his farewell from halfway across the parking lot.

"Isabella Swan, tell me what's wrong right now." Angela ordered.

"Good morning to you, too, love." came Izzy's sarcastic response.

"Don't bullshit me right now, Iz. You're pale, sweating, and you look like you're going to pass out right here in the school parking lot."

Izzy sighed and looked around. She was glad Rosalie and Alice were not at school yet, she didn't want them to see this. She could feel that Emmett had unintentionally reopened her wound; sticky liquid dripping down her back and attaching to the t-shirt she wore under her coat.

"I… need your help. And your first aid kit. Can we go to your garage?" Izzy asked.

Angela studied her best friend. She knew what Izzy was saying without having to hear the words. This would not be the first time she needed to bandage the tall brunette because of some damage Charlie had done to her, but as Angela watched her friend's eyes skitter all around the surrounding area she quickly realized that Izzy must not have wanted Rosalie or Alice to know about her injuries. That was odd.

"Get in the car." Angela drove Izzy's Mustang back to her house. The entire fifteen-minute ride, Izzy was extremely careful not to lean back against the passenger seat. Angela deduced the wound must be located on her friends back.

When they arrived, Angela quickly divested Izzy of her coat and had her lay down on the futon tucked under a window.

"You've bled through your shirt." She gasped and Izzy only hummed in confirmation, reaching back to pull the stained shirt over her head.

"Jesus fuck, sweetheart, what happened?" Her best friend's back was shredded; angry red marks climbing diagonally upwards from her left hip to her right shoulder blade. The carved letters spelled 'FILTHY'.

"You know what happened, Ange." And Izzy was right; Angela did know what happened. It was always the same thing. Izzy would come home to find Charlie plastered and rambling nonsense about helping her and fixing her flaws. The more he drank, the more violent he became.

Angela rinsed, sanitized, and bandaged Izzy's back as best she could, all the while cursing under her breath that Izzy continued to let these things happen.

"Why are you still there, Iz? Why do you continue to let him do this to you?" She pleaded with her friend.

"I need a place to stay until graduation."

"That's a lie and you know it. I've offered our spare room and even this garage to you multiple times. Even my mom has! She loves you!"

"And I love her!" Izzy shouted, rubbing her temples. "I love your mother, as well, and that is why I will not bring my troubles to her door. I will not add to the stress she is already under working full time and taking care of the twins. Besides," she sighed and gratefully accepted the ibuprofen offered to her, "I'm strong enough to take the beatings. You and I both know that I was the reason for their divorce. Charlie lost the love of his life because of me and the least I could do for him is be the outlet he can vent his angers on."

The brown skinned brunette didn't have an answer to that; it was easy for her to be frustrated that Izzy would not leave an abusive environment but she was not in her friend's shoes. The girls did not return to school that day, instead choosing to lounge around in the garage and watch movies while Izzy intermittently napped and iced her back. Luckily, it was Emmett that called to check on them, instead of Rosalie with her lie detecting ability, and Angela told him that she and Izzy decided to take a day off to catch up with one another.

* * *

><p>Izzy was standing in her driveway, smoking a clove and feeling grateful that Charlie wasn't home at the moment when she noticed the glowing grey eyes at the edge of the woods across the street. She was in pain, she was in a foul mood, and she wanted to find out why she was being stalked and what exactly was doing the stalking. The eyes didn't move as she stormed across the street, but as she drew closer, the thing began to lead her further into the woods, occasionally glancing back to make sure she followed. Finally, Izzy came to a small clearing and got her first decent look at the body the glowing eyes were attached to. It was an average sized wolf; it's head coming up to her chest, and it appeared to be female. The strange, perhaps comforting, thing about the wolf, however, was that its body was not solid; it was a shadow. More dense than a regular shadow, darker maybe, and the form was constantly shifting like the wolf's body was comprised of several shadows at once. She cocked her head to the side and seemed to be studying Izzy equally with calm, gentle eyes.<p>

"You," Izzy gestured with her right hand to the wolf, "are a shadow."

The wolf snorted and nodded its head, sitting back on its haunches.

"Of course, yes, that's obvious. Um," Izzy sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "I can manipulate shadows. Do we have some connection?"

The wolf's eyes seemed to soften a great deal; it filled its lungs with air and slowly exhaled, nodding at Izzy.

"Okay, okay, but it seems that you cannot speak to me, as a shadow, or you would have by now. Is there any way you can tell me why you've been following me?" Izzy wasn't sure where her anger went. Not ten minutes earlier she was fuming at being constantly followed but now, now she was just confused and curious.

The wolf squinted her eyes and looked down at the ground as if thinking. Minutes passed and suddenly she snapped her head up, eyes bright, and Izzy thought it look like the wolf was smiling. She walked slowly towards Izzy, who was standing still, hands at her sides. The wolf sat down again, right in front of the human, and batted at Izzy's right hand with her paw then batted as her own snout with the same paw. Izzy took a deep breath, having no idea what to expect, and placed her long fingers on the surprisingly solid snout of the wolf in front of her.

_A man with short black hair and intense black eyes was holding the hand of a woman with long curly black hair and shining silver eyes. The woman was in bed, giving birth, and the couple looked ecstatic. The same woman reclining on a cloud, high up in the sky, tiny baby smiling in her arms and she is introducing the baby to a few friendly stars. The baby has grown and is with its father at the top of a tree, watching him make his fingers and hands dance, watching him conjure shadow animals to entertain the baby._

"Holyfuckingshitdicks!" Izzy reared back, stumbling and falling to the ground with wide eyes. "What the hell was that? Did you do that? Who were those people? What was that place?"

The wolf, who at first wore a serene expression, startled at Izzy's outburst and skittered backwards a ways. It cocked its head and huffed in frustration. The wolf picked up her big paw again and tapped her own forehead, as if telling Izzy to use her brain, before trotting off and disappearing into a shadow, not to be seen again.

The human was too stunned to do anything other than stare openmouthed in the direction the wolf exited. Did the wolf, the shadow wolf, just show her memories or was that supposed to be the future? Izzy had never seen those people or the child before but she felt a vague sense of familiarity. The place, however, the clouds and the sky and the gigantic tress, were very familiar to her. That was the place in her strange dreams.

* * *

><p>

Izzy didn't realize how late it had gotten; all she knew was that it was dark and silent outside. So she didn't quite realize what she did to deserve the quick, powerful punch to the jaw as soon as she dropped through the basement window. Her mind was still reeling from the encounter with the wolf and she wasn't thinking fast enough to dodge the next two punches to the face or the final backhand to her temple that knocked her unconscious.

_Just keep breathing,_ Izzy thought as she came to. She was, once again, face down on her mattress, wrists and ankles handcuffed to the posts of the bedframe.

"You filthy whore." He spat; squeezing her ribs with his knees so hard she thought she felt one snap. "I've been waiting down here for hours." He landed two quick jabs to her ribs. "I came down here to check on your wounds and you don't show up until midnight?" he was gripping the back of her neck so hard she was sure there would be a bruise there for weeks. "And then! And then I go to check your back and see it's already been treated? What in God's name made you think it was a good idea to get medical help? I'm the fucking Chief of Police of this town. Who helped you?!"

_Just keep breathing. Think about something else. Don't hurt him. Don't speak._

She could have hurt Charlie easily but she did not want to. He was an angry, lonely, pathetic son of a bitch who needed an outlet for his frustration and she was willing to be that for him; she was strong, she could take it.

_Breathe, don't respond to him, and think about something comforting._

"Why don't you say something?" he yelled into her ear. "Why don't you defend yourself? Scream for me, bitch!" He landed a barrage of punches up and down Izzy's back but all she did was grunt in pain and clinch her eyes shut.

Charlie began muttering to himself. Izzy could smell the alcohol wafting off of him in waves and she wanted to gag when he put his face close to hers and yelled. He got up and left the room for a minute, returning before she had a chance to test the cuffs, and climbed onto her back once more. The man kept mumbling about teaching her a lesson and why the hell doesn't she listen to him. She heard the loud poof of a blowtorch. She knew it was time to go inside her head.

_Think about good things, happy things, and the lady from your dreams. Lumiere; your light. Such a gentle, beautiful woman._

**F. **He started carving at her left hip, just above her pants. What he was using felt like a fireplace poker heated with the blowtorch.

_You and your mother, your real mother, first saw her as she passed you on the street. You were instantly entranced, your mother too, but for different reasons. She had a bright, golden glow pouring out from her chest and she was radiant._

**I.** Close to her spine. Searing pain. She whimpered when she smelled her burning flesh.

_You found her days later, followed the feeling in your gut. She was chained up in a dank, dirty cellar. She wore bruises and cuts on every inch of visible skin. Her light had dimmed. She had lost her unborn baby and her husband blamed her for it._

**L T.** Quick, smooth strokes diagonal across her back. She was sweating. She had to keep her eyes closed, keep breathing.

_You went back to visit her a couple times a week. Your mother saw her when you weren't there. You told her about your girls back home and she told you about her dream of being an artist. She taught you French and you told her stories about your adventures and battles and your charges, the children doomed to live with you forever. Her eyes lit up when you spoke of the children, she would have made an excellent mother._

**H.** Under her right shoulder blade. He kept screaming at her; why is she so still, why wont she cry, why doesn't she scream for him. He was doing this for her, to remind her to clean up her act, so she will never forget.

_You watched the woman become skin and bones; he rarely fed her. She began to think you were a figment of her imagination to help her through the pain. She began to talk to herself, holding her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. You cursed yourself for your lack of strength, your lack of training because you could not figure out how to make yourself corporeal in her realm. You watched her waste away and the once burning light that spilled from her chest shrank and dimmed until you could barely see it._

**Y.** Finally finished. She will thank him for this one day, when she recognizes her flaws and fixes them. He wiped his bloody knife on her pants and unlocked the cuffs on her wrists and ankles because, no, she won't be going anywhere even if she wanted to. He left with a loud slam of her basement door and she was left alone and bleeding, drifting in her self-imposed catatonic state.

_The last time you visited, she wasn't there. You searched the entire house; invisible to anyone you didn't want to see you. Her bastard husband was speaking to a man about her the way he would speak of a change in weather. She disappeared in the night; she walked ten miles to the bridge overlooking the raging river. Your Lumiere, your light was gone. You loved her; you didn't realize how much until you couldn't tell her. She was like a second mother to you, soft words and a warm presence that made you feel safe and cherished. She walked ten miles in the rain to the bridge that overlooked the raging river. She jumped. She saw the jagged rocks coming up to meet her and she felt free for the first time in a long time._

And then everything went black.

/

* * *

><p>Isabella Swan was aware enough to know not to fall asleep. She recognized that Charlie had gone too far this time and that she could very possibly die from this. She was overwhelmingly grateful that he assumed she could not leave if he unlocked the cuffs. She only knew of one doctor that she could get to at this time of night and who would not ask too many questions.<p>

Halfway through the woods on her way to where she had dropped off Rosalie and Alice numerous times, Izzy was cursing herself for not thinking to simply call the vampires. She travelled between the shadows of the trees and dragged herself, half naked, through the forest searching for the next shadow. When she finally arrived at the end of the Cullen driveway she saw the three stone steps leading to the front door, brilliantly lit by porch lights, not a shadow in sight. She crawled to the steps and heaved herself over them one at a time, the flesh of her back ripping each time she moved her arms. Her vision was getting blurry and there were dark spots in front of her eyes as she hammered on the heavy wooden door until she couldn't keep her hand up any longer. A gorgeous woman with a heart shaped face and a light spilling out from her chest opened the door and gasped at what she saw.

Izzy looked up at her, with the light over her shoulder and framing her body, the woman looked like an angel. "Lumiere?" she panted.

"Sk-Skia? Oh my, God, honey, what happened to you?" Esme Cullen asked, her eyes flicking from the very familiar gunmetal grey ones she used to know to the girl's back that was covered in blood and deep craters of seared flesh.

"Don't let… the girls… see this." Izzy managed to whisper just before letting her eyes close.


	8. Chapter 8

**disclaimer in chapter one**

**sorry it took so long, guys. Some crappy, crappy things have been happening lately.**

**LookOutReader: **Izzy is working at the bar while she is under the age of 21 because this is a fanFICTION. If you are not going to ask how a shadow wolf can exist, how a person can manipulate shadows or talk to animals and plants, or how vampires can be real, please don't ask for an explanation of why a 20 year old is bartending. Also, I started bartending at 18, so I don't know, maybe each state's laws are different.

**French translations**

**Lumiere: light**

**Ombre: shadow**

* * *

><p>"What are we going to do, Rose?" Alice asked.<p>

Four hours later and so much had happened that Rosalie wasn't sure which issue Alice was referring to. The fact that their adopted mother, Esme, seemed to know Isabella before even they did? That when Izzy briefly regained consciousness while Esme kneeled in front of her and stroked her hair, they seemed to have some sort of secret connection complete with pet names? _"Lumiere? Are you really here? Is this another dream?" then Esme had laughed, breathless and teary, "Yes, ombre, I am really here and you are not dreaming. I'm so glad you remember me."_

Or was it, perhaps, that Jasper had to be physically removed from the house during his hissy fit over all of the overwhelmingly strong emotions in one room? And that on his way out, Emmett's massive arms wrapped around his chest and hauling him away, Jasper finally noticed that Alice wasn't paying the least bit attention to him because her vampire instincts had taken over just like Rosalie's and there was no way in hell she would look away from watching Carlisle meticulously work on someone she loved or relax from her defensive crouch with her fangs bared and eyes pitch black.

But probably, the safer and more obvious option, was that just a few agonizing hours ago the sisters had, for the first and hopefully last time, heard their mother call out their father's name sounding more scared than she ever had, voice breaking with panic. They had watched their sweet, sweet brother, Emmett, pick Izzy up as gently as his giant hands could manage and whisk her away to Carlisle's office up the stairs because they were too stunned to move. They now know what a burning fireplace poker can do to human flesh and they know what Izzy's charred skin smells like and they have had time to realize that they will never be able to forget it.

"We can't let her go back there," the blonde whispered. "I won't ever let her go back to that house."

"Obviously!" Alice said a bit too loud.

Rosalie glared at her over Izzy's unconscious head. Carlisle had finished removing dead skin, disinfecting, stitching what he could, and bandaging the rest of just about Izzy's entire body half an hour ago. Her back was one huge gauze pad and her front, from chest to bare feet, was covered in scrapes, gashes, and bruising from dragging herself across the forest floor. The human was sandwiched in between Rosalie, who was spooning her, and Alice, who was cuddled into her front, in the hopes that the vampire's body temperatures would reduce swelling and pain. Alice was only in her lacy yellow bra and panties as they had discovered any fabric rubbing against the human's raw skin caused her to wince and grimace in her sleep.

"I'm sorry," Alice continued in a lower voice. "Obviously we shouldn't let her go back there. What I meant was what are we going to do about Jasper? He seemed really pissed when he left."

Had Alice asked this years ago, when Rosalie was still the cold-hearted bitch she was before realizing her feelings for the little goth, the blonde would have scoffed at the assumption that she would help a wife deal with their controlling husband. Now, though, she would do just about anything for Alice, just like she would for Izzy.

"I'm not sure, Ali. You need to talk to him. The sooner, the better, I think. There is no 'right time' to tell someone you don't love them anymore."

Alice only hummed in agreement and settled back into Izzy's warmth. Rosalie didn't know what to say next so she laced her fingers with Alice over Izzy's hip and closed her eyes. Later, there was a soft knock on Rosalie's bedroom door before Esme poked her head in, smiling broadly at the three girls cuddled into each other. She sat on the edge of the bed, behind Alice's back, and brushed a lock of Izzy's hair behind her ear so she could see the girls face better.

"How is she doing, girls?" She asked, using her soft 'mothering' voice that instantly made the sisters relax.

"She's just been sleeping," Alice answered. "And pretty still, for the most part. How are you, Esme?"

The older vampire sighed and readjusted herself on the bed now that both her daughters were looking at her intently. "I am… sad and very angry that this happened to Isabella… but I am also ecstatic that she is finally here and that she has grown into such a strong person."

"So you do know her?" Rosalie asked with raised eyebrows.

"I do. Well, I did." Esme ran a hand through her shiny chestnut hair. "I don't know this Isabella, I knew another version of her."

"Uhh…" Alice looked between Esme and Rosalie, "What the hell does that mean?"

"Language, love." The mother admonished. "I'm sure she will tell you when she is feeling better. It really is not my story to tell. Until then, just know that I could not be happier that you three have finally found each other." And with that Esme left the room as smoothly as she entered, leaving both vampires more confused than before.

* * *

><p>Hours later and none of the girls had moved save for Alice, who had flipped over so that her back was to Izzy's front. They had been quiet for a long time when Rosalie noticed Izzy starting to come to… sort of. Alice must have been scanning the future to be so oblivious to the human's hips slowly and discreetly thrusting into her ass. The blonde had gotten bored ages ago and so decided to have some fun by flinging an arm over Izzy and onto Alice's exposed hip, pulling her back into Izzy on each thrust.<p>

Eventually, the tiny goth understood what was happening and turned over to see Rosalie's golden eyes sparkling at her from the human's neck where she was placing delicate kisses. The brunette's hips were still moving to the rhythm of her dream when Alice slowly pushed her right hand up Izzy's bare torso, outlining each defined abdominal muscle, and stopped to rest above the girl's rapidly beating heart. Rosalie sat up so that Izzy, whose eyes were just now fluttering open, was sitting upright between her legs while she rested against the headboard and continued to trail kisses from a bare shoulder up to a soft earlobe. Alice's eyes were mostly black when she swung a leg over Izzy's lap and ground down into her hard bulge underneath borrowed shorts. Rosalie had taken to moving her hands up and down Izzy's sides when Alice placed her palms on either side of Izzy's neck, leaned forward and licked a path from the base of her throat up over her chin.

"Is this for me?" Alice asked sweetly as she ghosted a hand over the hidden bulge and smiled as it twitched.

"It's for," Izzy cleared her throat, "It's for both of you."

Rosalie hummed into the brunette's ear and began shimmying her shorts down over her hips. She stopped and said, "Ali, Jesus, look at this."

Alice looked down, still rocking in Izzy's lap, to where Rosalie was gesturing. With Izzy's shorts down just below her hips, they had full view of the wonder that was her tight, toned stomach and the hard muscles that formed a pronounced v inside of her hipbones. Alice inclined forward further and kissed each ab on her way down and pulled the shorts to Izzy's knees. Just as Alice reached into Izzy's black boxer briefs, she suddenly stopped and the human let out a pitiful whine. Alice was only still for a few seconds before she jumped off the bed hissing, "Jasper's coming." At vampire speed, Rosalie rolled herself and Izzy over to face away from the entrance and pulled the girls shorts up just as there was one short knock immediately following the bursting open of her bedroom door.

"Where is my wife?" Jasper ground out. He could smell three different scents of arousal and knew Alice was in that room but he could not see her.

Rosalie simply rolled her head towards him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk as Alice calmly walked out of her closet wearing yoga pants and a tank.

"Jasper, we need to talk. Lets go." She said, throwing a coy wink over her shoulder at Rosalie and Izzy as she dragged reluctant Jasper through the door and just before it clicked closed they could hear muffled giggles.

* * *

><p>The next morning saw Izzy laying on her stomach, headphones on, laptop open in front of her as she worked on a mix for work. She could now handle the slight weight of a t-shirt over her bandaged back but elected not to attend school just yet because every time she moved her arms it would stretch the healing wounds between her shoulder blades. Alice had kindly offered to bring her homework before kissing her forehead on her way out and Rosalie had grudgingly left as well, if only because she needed to hunt and might as well attend classes while she was out.<p>

She did not have a vampire's enhanced hearing ability but seemed able to sense Esme's entrance, regardless. She slowly and painfully positioned herself against the headboard, gritting her teeth at the stabbing pain until it became merely an ache and watched as the woman she thought was a figment of her imagination glided towards the bed and gracefully took a seat. They simply observed each other for long minutes; Izzy trying to reconcile this version of her Lumiere to the one from her dreams, the bloodied and beaten woman who taught her so much, and Esme cataloging every change in Isabella from the last time she saw her. The girl who used to visit her in the dark basement and tell her tales of different worlds was only a child then; shorter, she had black hair and luminescent silver eyes, and had not learned how to appear entirely corporeal yet.

"So, uh," Izzy hesitantly started, "you're an actual person."

Esme snorted a laugh, completely uncommon for her, and replied, "And it seems you are also an 'actual person'."

Izzy's eyebrow knitted together in confusion. "Did you think I wasn't?"

"Well, when you and I knew each other before, you were mostly shadow. You hadn't learned how to be solid in this world yet."

"O-kay. When was it that you and I knew each other? What… time period, I guess?"

"We met in 1814, dear, and knew each other for about a year." Esme answered.

"Wow, okay. So that's all real, then? I had dreams about these things and I thought they were just trippy ass dreams but it actually happened? More than 200 years ago?"

"Language, dear." Esme smirked. "I know this is all extremely confusing but it is not entirely my story to tell. What I can tell you is that everything you remember, or have dreamt about, in relation to me is true and did indeed happen. I can tell you that you will find answers to your questions if you are patient. And I can tell you that when I," She cleared her throat anxiously, "lets say 'became a vampire', your mother came to me and asked me to take care of you in her stead should I ever meet you again and I readily agreed because I already loved you like my own daughter by that time even though I thought you were a pain-fueled hallucination."

Izzy was silent for a few minutes, running that through her mind. "Well, alright, then. I'm going to need, like, a lot of time to process that and what this all means."

"Of course, ombre." Esme replied softly. "I actually came up here to see if you would like help bathing? I thought it might be less awkward for you if it wasn't one of the girls and certainly not one of the boys."

At Izzy's grateful nod, Esme helped her up and into the bathroom where she answered what questions she could about her current life and made Izzy laugh with humorous outtakes of her life with Rosalie, Alice, and Emmett.


	9. Chapter 9

**disclaimer in chapter one**

**just a short filler chapter explaining Izzy and Esme's connection.**

* * *

><p><em>She had been walking for so long in the storm and she was almost there. She still did not regret what she was about to do. She had always known her husband was a rotten bastard but lately she just couldn't hold on anymore. He was of the mind that women were made to be slaves to man's will, to cook, clean, and fuck when the man wanted it. But should that woman have a brain? Should that woman think it her right to use that brain? Well, just lock her up in the basement and beat the intelligence out of her, of course. It was his right as a man, as a husband, after all. And when she lost the baby, well, she was worth absolutely nothing to him anymore if she refused to give him a son. Never mind that the doctor told them it was due to malnourishment and stress and, oh yeah, the constant beatings. The only thing that got her through it this long was the shadowy hallucinations her mind conjured to take her mind off the pain. The younger one, Skia, was so, so sweet and told her stories of another world and all of her adventures. The older one, who would not yet reveal her name, showed her what it was like to feel loved, to be loved, physically and emotionally. But she had not seen them in months. She took that as a sign that it was time she end it. As she neared the edge of the cliff, she took in one huge breath, and stepped off without hesitation, and she finally felt free.<em>

_She did not feel the pain and her body bounced off the rocks on her decent or when she finally stopped flailing and falling to the hard concrete below. It must be the shock, she thought. And then, suddenly, the older shadowy hallucination was kneeling over her, crying and asking why she had done this._

"_Esme, my love, why? Why would you do this?" she asked._

_And Esme answered, "I wanted to be free."_

_The woman asked if Esme would want to live if she brought her to her true soul mate, if she repaired her body, because she had seen a handful of children and great happiness in her future. Esme, thinking this was all another hallucination to ease her mind before death, readily agreed just to get it over with._

"_Why are you doing this for me?" the broken woman asked, blackness closing in on her line of sight._

"_Because I love you, dear. I will always love you and I hope that one day, if you meet my daughter again, you will welcome her into your family as we have welcomed you into our hearts. Now, just close your eyes and breathe as deeply as you can manage. This may pinch a bit."_

_As the shadowy woman leaned down, Esme noticed a gleaming pair of fangs unsheathe in her mouth but was incapable of being frightened of this woman._

"_Wait, please. Tell me your name so that I will always remember you." Esme gasped._

"_Nyx, darling. My name is Nyx."_

Esme shook her head as if to dislodge the memory. She had not thought about that night in years mainly because once she woke up, after her change into a vampire, she was in the morgue and opened her eyes to her true soul mate, Carlisle Cullen. She was blissfully happy with him after that, even through learning to control her bloodlust and staying away from humans. It wasn't for another decade that the memories of Nyx and the time they had together came crashing back into her and she had a mini meltdown. Carlisle, the amazing man that he was, sat with her for nearly a day as she stuttered and dry-sobbed her story to him. He, of course, completely understood; he'd had lovers before her, after all. He even understood that she would always love that woman, not in the way she loved him, but it was love all the same.

Esme shook her head again, internally laughing in delight at the good fortune and happiness she had found with her husband and her adopted family. Then she laughed out loud as she heard Isabella rushing past the garden, likely thinking Esme hadn't heard her slink out of Rosalie's window and dash to the forest.

* * *

><p>Izzy was so fucking bored. It was now Tuesday and she had been inside all day Sunday and Monday. She needed to get out for some fresh air; she needed to walk at least. Esme had been opening up more about their connection to each other. The previous night Izzy asked if Esme knew her real mother, since her dreams indicated as such, and Esme's face clouded for a fraction of a second before she said, "I did. You should really talk to your wolf friend about that though." And before Izzy could ask how in the world Esme knew about the wolf that had been stalking her, the woman was out the door and down the stairs starting on her absolutely delicious lasagna for dinner.<p>

So here the human was, after sneaking past the vampire mother in the garden, slowly strolling through the forest behind their beautiful house, breathing in the greenery and hoping to run into that wolf. Not much time had passed before she felt a familiar presence to her right. There she was, the shadow wolf, keeping pace with her. They walked in companionable silence until Izzy stopped and sat on a giant fallen tree trunk.

"So," she started, "Esme says I should talk to you about how she and my mother know each other?"

The wolf snorted as if laughing and sat on its haunches a comfortable reaching distance from the girl. Izzy's hand was halfway to the wolf's snout, thinking it wanted to show her some more freaky visions, when the wolf suddenly took in a long breath and cocked it's head to the left. It continued sniffing as it approached her and Izzy was oddly comfortable with her so she let her sniff around her back as well. The wolf started growling and came back around Izzy's front, whimpering and nudging her knee.

"What is it?" the human asked.

The wolf gestured with her paw to Izzy's back.

"Oh, uh, let me show you?" and the wolf nodded its big head.

Izzy lifted her shirt over her shoulders and turned around. She could feel the wolf's snout sniffing her and giggled a little when it tickled.

"Who did that to you?!" a deep, husky, woman's voice spoke. In her head.

"Whoa!," Izzy spun around, eyes wide. "Was that you? In my head just now?" the wolf nodded, looking impatient. "You can speak… in my head? And this is the first time? What the hell!"

"You had to be open and comfortable with me in order to hear me. Who did that?"

"Oh. Charlie." The wolf growled louder this time and Izzy hastened to appease her. "But don't worry, I'm not living there anymore. Emmett brought over my things from the basement and the Cullens are taking care of me for now. And speaking of the Cullens…" Izzy trailed off.

"Okay, okay. It would be easier if I just showed you otherwise we could be here for longer than necessary."

Izzy reached out again.

_She saw the same stunning woman from before; pale skin, long and shiny black hair, and bright silver eyes. She was with Esme, the broken and beaten Esme, in the dank little cellar, talking and laughing and smiling at each other. Then they were kissing, slowly and lovingly. They were divesting each other of their clothing before the vision cut out._

"So, you and Esme…" Izzy trailed off.

"Were lovers, yes. We care very much about each other."

Izzy didn't miss that the wolf used the present tense. So they still cared about one another. Did that mean they still saw each other? That was the second time the wolf showed her the dark haired woman.

"You have shown me the same woman twice, now. Who is she?"

"Me." the wolf replied.

"You and Esme? Wow. I wont lie, that's sort of hot." Izzy chuckled.

The wolf snorted again and looked like it might be smiling.

"But wait, last time you showed me things, it was you and a man and you had a daughter together. You and the man and child seemed familiar but the place is exactly like my dreams. Do we know each other?" Izzy asked, cocking her head to the left and racking her brain.

The wolf looked off to the right. She seemed a little sad or hesitant, and then she stared at Izzy for a long time before speaking again.

"I wasn't expecting things to escalate this quickly but I can see that you are very confused and have a lot of questions. You deserve at least some answers." The wolf took a big breath through its nose. "I'm your mother, Isabella. Your birth mother."

Suddenly, Izzy couldn't move, or blink, or breathe. She stared wide-eyed at the wolf made of shadows, uncomprehending, until she passed out from shock or lack of oxygen.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Esme looked over her shoulder and laughed at the wolf half carrying, half dragging Izzy back home.<p>

"Hello, dear. I take it you finally told her?" she greeted the wolf, rubbing behind her ears.

The wolf snorted and nodded its head, gently depositing her daughter onto a lounge chair in the garden. Esme and the wolf just looked at the unconscious brunette for some minutes.

"She's beautiful." The wolf said in Esme's mind.

Esme smiled and nodded. "She is."

Esme turned and wrapped her arms around the wolf's shoulders, nuzzling into her neck. "Thank you for bringing her home, Nyx."

"Thank you for taking care of her."


End file.
